
GlassiiiV 2^0- 
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SMITHSONIAN INSTITTJTION 

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 

BULLETIN 33 



SKELETAL REMAINS 

SUGGESTING OR ATTRIBUTED TO EARLY MAK 

IN NORTH AMERICA 



BY 



ALES HRDLICKA 




SOPH!CAL SOCIETY 

—OF— 
WASHINGTON- 



WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1907 




G^ ,^ 



A 



^t;^ 



A 



PREFATORY NOTE 

The Bureau of American Ethnology from its foundation has taken 
a deep interest in all researches relating to the antiquity of man in 
America, and its attitude in considering the various questions that 
have arisen has been conservative. In the earlier years of the investi- 
gation there existed a rather marked tendency on the part of students, 
and especially on the jDart of amateurs and the general public, hastily 
to accept any testimony that seemed to favor antiquity, and the con- 
servative attitude of the Bureau was emphasized by a desire to coun- 
teract and correct this tendency. Evidence of the great antiquity of 
man in the Old World is abundant and convincing, and the assump- 
tion that like conditions exist in America seemed reasonable and was 
perhaps justifiable, although it led to the general acceptance of much 
that was without satisfactory verification. 

It has been the practice of the Bureau when discoveries believed to 
have an important bearing on the question of human antiquity in 
North America have been announced to seek to determine their just 
value. In pursuance of this plan its representatives have been sent 
on occasion to New Jersey, to the Ohio valley, to sites on the Potomac, 
to JMinnesota, to California, to Florida, and to Kansas, to make the 
necessary investigations. On receipt of reports of the discovery in 
Nebraska of human crania of low type and possibly of great geolog- 
ical antiquity, prompt action was taken. Doctor Hrdlicka, an accom- 
plished student of human osseous remains, Avas sent to Lincoln to ex- 
amine the peculiar remains and to make such investigations regarding 
the conditions under which they were discovered as he might find 
possible at that season of the year. When this discovery was an- 
nounced, the Bureau was about to send to press a paper by Doctor 
Hrdlicka embodying descriptions of all the known American human 
remains for which geological antiquity had been claimed. This 
paper was withheld from publication, however, until the Nebraska 
specimens could be examined, so that the present bulletin includes 
descriptions of these as well as of all kindred remains brought to 
light in North America up to the present time. 

W. H. Holmes, Chief. 

.3 



CONTENTS 

Page 

I. Introduction 9 

II. List of the skeletal remains 14 

III. The New Orleans skeleton 15 

lY . The Quebec skeleton 16 

V. The Xatchez pelvic bone 16 

VI. The Lake Monroe ( Florida) bones 19 

VII. The Soda Creek skeleton 20 

VIII. The Charleston bones 20 

IX. The Calaveras skull 21 

History 21 

Physical characters. 22 

Comparisons 25 

X. The Eock Bluff cranium 28 

XL The Man of Peiion 32 

XII. The crania of Trenton 35 

The Burhngton County skull 36 

The Riverview Cemetery skull 36 

Racial affinities of the Burlington County and Eiverview Ceme- 
tery skulls - - 41 

XIII. The Trenton femur 46 

XIV. The Lansing skeleton 47 

Somatological characters 48 

Conclusion 52 

XV. The fossil man of western Florida 53 

The Osprey skull 53 

The North Osprey bones 54 

The Hanson Landing remains 55 

The South Osprey remains 55 

Examination of the specimens 56 

Physical characters 57 

Resume 60 

Report of Dr. T. A'^'ayland Vaughan 64 

XVI. Mound crania (Florida) 66 

XVII. The Nebraska "loess man " 66 

History of finds 67 

Description of the mound .^ 74 

Examination of the bones 76 

Discussion 87 

XVIIL General conclusion 98 

XIX. Appendix: Recent Indian skulls of low type in the U. S. National 

Museum 99 

Index 109 

5 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

Page 

Plate I. The Calaveras (California) skull as it was in 1902 22 

II. Skulls from Illinois 30 

III. Skull from Burlington county, New Jersey 37 

IV. Skull from Riverview cemetery, Trenton, New Jersey 37 

V. The Lansing (Kansas) skull 49 

VI. Skulls from Florida 57 

VII. The North Osprey (Florida) femur and tibia 59 

VIII. The South Osprey (Florida) skeleton 59 

IX. Osseous remains in process of silicification, found at South Osprey, 

Florida 64 

X. Skulls from Gilder mound 80 

XI. Skulls from Gilder mound 80 

XII. Skulls with low foreheads (Davenport Academy of Sciences) 95 

XIII. Mound-builder skulls (Davenport Academy of Sciences) 95 

XIV. Skull from mound in North Dakota (U. S. National Museum no. 

228876) 99 

XV. Skull of Piegan from Montana (U. S. National Museum no. 243673) _ 99 
XVI. Skull from mound near Browning, Schuyler county, Illinois (U. S. 

National Museum no. 136778) 99 

XVII. Skulls with low foreheads, from Illinois and Nevada 99 

XVIII. Skulls with low foreheads, from California 99 

XIX. Skull from Santa Cruz island, California (U. S. National Museum 

no. 241927 ) 99 

XX. Skulls with low foreheads, from California and Wisconsin 99 

XXI. Skull from mound in Orange county, Indiana (U. S. National Mu- 
seum no. 243855) 99 

Fig. 1. Geological formations concerned in human history 9 

2. The Natchez pelvic bone (after Leidy) 18 

8. Cave skull, Calaveras county, California; side view. - 26 

4. Remnant of the skull of the "Hombre del Peiion" (after Barcena, in 

La Naturaleza, vii, no. 16) 34 

5. Front view of two of the Bremen chamsecephals 44 

6. Side and top views of one of the Bremen chamsecephals. _ 45 

7. Comparison of the nasion-opisthion arcs, geometrically constructed, 

of the Lansing skull and three modern Indian crania 53 

8. Sketch map of Osprey and vicinity 54 

9. Section of deposits showing position of the Osprey skull 61 

10. Shore line at South Osprey 62 

11. Section of the layers at the locality of the South Osprey find 63 

12. Antero-posterior arcs of skulls no. 8 and no. 6 79 

13. Antero-posterior arcs of skulls no. 4402, Davenport Academy of 

Sciences, and no. 6, Gilder mound 94 

14. Antero-posterior arcs of skulls no. 4402, Davenport Academy of 

Sciences, and no, 8, Gilder mound 94 

15. Antero-posterior arcs of skulls no. 242982, U. S. National Museum, 

and no. 6, Gilder mound 95 

16. Antero-posterior arcs of skulls no. 242982, U. S. National Museum, 

and no. 8, Gilder mound 95 

7 



SKELETAL REMAINS SUGGESTING OR ATTRIBUTED 
TO EARLY MAN IN NORTH AMERICA 

By Ales Hrdlicka 
I._INTR0DUCTION 

According to current classification of geological time, the Ceno- 
zoic era (the era of modern life) is divided into two periods, the 
Tertiary and the Quaternar}^ The former, which is the older, 
comprises three subdivisions. Eocene, Miocene, and Pliocene, and 
the latter two subdivisions. Pleistocene and Recent. These periods 
are indicated in figure 1 in the order of the formations representing 
them. 

Man made his appearance in the Old World probably during the 
Tertiar}^ period through differentiation from the primates, the class 
of animals to which he presents 
the closest structural analogies. 
Primates of the higher forms were 
not found in America ; they ex- 
isted only in the warmer parts of 
Asia, Africa, and Europe, and it 
is there that we must look for the 
first traces of man's appearance. 
Accepting this view, it follows 
that America was peopled by im- 
migration from the Old World, 
which could not have taken place until after great multiplication and 
wide distribution of the human species and the development of some 
degree of culture. This implies a vastly later date than that which 
must be assigned to man's origin. A w^ide dispersion of the race over 
the earth could hardly have taken place before the later stages of the 
Cenozoic era. 

In considering the question of the appearance of man in America, 
special interest attaches to the Pleistocene, during several phases of 
which period man is known to have existed in central and western 
Europe ; there is absolutely no indication that he reached the Ameri- 
can continent before that time. The American Pleistocene, w^hich is 
synchronous with the Glacial period, is marked by certain well-known 
geological deposits, which are particularly abundant and character- 

9 







RECeN T 


i 


TrRTiPtRY < 




PLIOCENE 




M/OCENC 






EOCENE 










1'- -V.V. 





Fig. 1. — Geological formations concerned in 
human history. 



10 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 33 

istic in the regions over which the glaciers extended. These forma- 
tions include especially the so-called glacial gravels which have 
received jDarticular attention at the hands of students of early ° 
man in this country. 

The several irregular ice invasions extended at their maximum as 
far south on the Atlantic coast as Long Island. In the Delaware 
valley they reached Easton, Pennsylvania ; in the Ohio valley, Cin- 
cinnati, Ohio; and in the Missouri valley, the vicinity of St. Louis. 
Beginning with the earliest subdivision, the several successive stages 
of this period, with the few and uncertain chronological approxima- 
tions that have been made, are thus given by leading American 
geologists : ^ 

Time in years since cli- 
max was reached 
I. The Sub-Aftonian, or Jerseyan, the earliest known 

invasion (?) 

II. The Aftonian, the first known interglacial interval. (?) 

III. The Kansan, or second invasion now recognized- __ .300, 000 to 1, 020, 000 

lY. The Yarmouth, or Buchanan, the second interglacial 

interval (?) 

V. The Illinoian, the third invasion 140, 000 to 540, 000 

VI. The Sangamon, the third interglacial interval (?) 

VII. The lowan, the fourth invasion 60, 000 to 300, 000 

VIII. The Peorian, the fourth interglacial interval (?) 

IX. The Earlier Wisconsin, the fifth invasion 40, 000 to 150, 000 

X. The fifth interval of deglaciation, as yet unnamed ( ?) 

XL The Later Wisconsin, the sixth advance 20, 000 to 60, 000 

XIL The Glacio-Lacustrine substage. 

XIII. The Champlain substage. 

The glacial invasion closed apparently with a gradual recession of 
the ice, and thus terminated considerably earlier in southern than in 
northern latitudes; this should be kept in mind in considering the 
date of the ultimate disappearance of the ice in any limited region. 
The precise date of the final recession of ice in any locality must 
always remain in a large degree conjectural. The climax of the 
final, or Champlain substage, in the latitude of the St. Lawrence 
river, was apparently reached considerably more than ten thousand 
years ago.^ 

Should it be assumed that man existed on the North American 
continent before the present geological period, and taking into account 
his osseous remains only, two important questions arise, namely, where 

" Tlie term early, as employed in this paper, applies only to the Pleistocene and older 
geological periods. 

''After Thomas C. Chamberlin and R. D, Salisbury's Geology, iii, 383, 420, New York, 
1906 ; reversed in arrangement. See also Salisbury's The Glacial Geology of New Jersey, 
Geological Survey of lS!ew Jersey, \, Trenton, 1902. It should not be understood that all 
of the given divisions apply to the entire vast glaciated area ; some of the terms relate 
only to somewhat localized phases of the period. 

" A summary of the whole question of estimates by years is given in the chapter on 
the Glacial period in volume iii of Chamberlin and Salisbury's Geology. 



HRDLicKA] SKELETAL REMAINS 11 

are such remains likely to occur and how is their antiquity to be 
determined. The first of these queries is answered with compara- 
tive ease. Man's greatest necessities are food and water, and unre- 
strained settlement of primitive peoples was guided everywhere to a 
large extent by facilities for obtaining these requisites. The only 
other strong motives which generally influenced the choice of dwell- 
ing sites were the requirements of comfort (including primarily a 
favorable climate) and of safety. It may be assumed, therefore, 
that the habitations of the earliest Americans w^ere established on 
defensible sites along the seashore and larger streams where the food 
supph^, consisting of mollusks, fish, and game animals, as well as of 
fruits, was particularly abundant, and in regions free from the ex- 
tremes of climate. Thus it is mainly on and about elevated sites 
along the sea coasts and in the valleys of the temperate zones of the 
periods of occupation that bones of early man should first be looked 
for. If there are contemporaneous rock recesses, especially caves, 
these should receive attention, for such shelters were utilized by all 
primitive peoples for both dwelling and burial. Bog deposits, which- 
naturally offer favorable conditions for the preservation of the bones 
of those who perished in such places, also deserve examination. 

Proper identification of human bones as those of early man is of 
the first importance, and at the same time is fraught with exceptional 
difficulties. Finds of osseous remains suggesting man of other than 
the recent period should be photographed in situ, and should be 
examined by more than one man of science, including especially a 
geologist familiar with the particular formations involved; and the 
chemical and somatological characters of the bones should receive the 
closest attention with the view of determining their bearing on ques- 
tions involving the antiquity of the remains. The history of a ma- 
jority of archeological finds suggestive of early man in this country is 
jDarticularly instructive in this connection," illustrating as it does 
many of the difficulties attending efforts at chronological identifi- 
cation. 

A point requiring especial attention is that of the possibility of 
'ntrusive burials. Men of recent times have inhabited many of the 
ites that may have been occupied by early man, and it will be readily 
appreciated that human remains of different periods might often 
be closely associated or even intermingled. AVhere such an occurrence 
is suspected, chemical and somatological tests are of particular value, 

" See especially the papers of W. H. Holmes on Traces of Glacial Man in Ohio, Journal 
of Geology, i, 147-163, . February-March, 1893 ; Vestiges of Early Man in Minnesota, 
American Geologist, xi, 219-240, April, 1893 ; Are there Traces of Man in the Trenton 
Gravels? Journal of Geology, i, 15-37, January-February, 1893; Primitive Man in the 
Delaware Valley, Science, n. s., vi, 824-829, 1897 ; and Review of the Evidence relating 
to Auriferous Gravel Man in California, Smithsonian Report for 1899, 419-472, Wash- 
ington. 1901. 



12 BUKEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 83 

although their application may prove arduous and is not certain of 
affording satisfactory results. 

A geologically ancient bone may be safely expected to show some 
degree of infiltration and replacement of its constituents by mineral 
matter, while modern bones are generally little changed; yet there 
exist in some localities conditions which greatly retard or facilitate 
the processes of mineralization, so that ancient bones may show but 
little evidence of fossilization, w^hile, on the other hand, undoubtedly 
recent bones may have undergone decided change. The latter con- 
dition is far more frequent. There is a possibility that the kind or 
the degree of the change may make it practicable to distinguish 
between recent and ancient fossilization ; but there are as yet no 
satisfactory means of testing this matter. 

Somatologically, the bones, and particularly the skull, of early man 
may be confidently expected to show some differences from those of 
modern man, especially in the direction of lesser differentiation. 
Unfortunately the knowledge of the osseous structures of early man 
in other parts of the world is still meager, and this lack of informa- 
tion is felt very keenly. We do not know as yet whether the human 
beings of the geological period just before the recent differed so 
from the present man that even the extreme individual variations 
in the two periods (the most advanced evolutionally in the old and 
the least advanced among modern individuals) would stand appre- 
ciably apart. Very likely they overlap and dovetail considerably. 

Yet the difficulties which may attend the separation on the morpho- 
logical basis of ancient from recent man should not be insuperable. 
If a find should consist of a series of well-preserved skulls or skeletons 
geologically ancient and of a similarly well-preserved series of skulls 
or skeletons of recent man, it is the firm conviction of the writer that 
in a large majority, if not in all, of the cases, their separation would 
be practicable. The greater the number of male adult normal, and 
in no way deformed, crania in each find, the easier it would become to 
make the necessary distinctions; and it may be safely assumed also 
that the greater the separation of the two groups in time the more 
distinct would be the somatological differences. 

There is no such thing as absolute stability in any human struc- 
ture. Every organic feature, of whatever consistency or importance, 
is the result of all the factors by which it was affected. With the 
skeletal parts by far the strongest of these factors, in itself a very com- 
posite one, is the potentiality of heredity, next to which in impor- 
tance comes habitual muscular action, particularly muscular use due 
to long-established habits of whole groups of people. Heredity, how- 
ever, especially in so far as it applies to the latest acquired charac- 
teristics of the skeleton, is subject to incidental irregularities as well 
as to gradual modifications. Habits of muscle action, on the other 



HRDLicKA] SKELETAL KEMAINS 13 

hand, change with environment and culture ; such changes in activities 
may take place much more slowly in some localities than in others, yet 
they are bound to manifest themselves everywhere in the course of 
ages and to be followed by corresponding and recurring structural 
alterations. The great skeletal diversity of mankind to-da}^ can be 
accounted for in no other manner. The alterations in the skull or 
bones need not be general or even of prime importance, and may re- 
quire for their discovery detailed study and extended comparisons; 
but in the case of an individual from the earlier stages of the period 
immediately preceding the recent they should be pronounced enough 
to be easily apprehended.^ The geologically ancient crania of Europe 
may be cited in support of this statement. In the case of single fea- 
tures, however, or with scanty material, all far-reaching conclusions 
must be avoided, for in such cases we can not be certain that we are 
outside of the territory of semipathological occurrences, and features 
of reversion, degeneration, or purely accidental variation limited to 
individuals or small numbers of persons. 

In this connection it is necessary to bear in mind also human 
migrations, resulting in a replacement of physical types. AATiile 
the stability of the same stock of people is much greater in some 
localities than is generally appreciated, it is probable that in a large 
majority of places one or more replacements of population have 
occurred even during recent geological time. On this account alone 
the explorer is very likely to find in recent burials racial types dis- 
tinct from those found in older burials. The greater the differ- 
ence in age between two sets of osseous human remains the greater 
the improbability, for the reason just given above, that they belong- 
to one physical variety. 

To summarize, identification of human bones as those of early 
man — that is, man of geological antiquity — demands indisputable 
stratigraphical evidence, some degree of fossilization of the bones, 
and marked serial somatological distinctions in the more important 
osseous parts. A skeleton or a skull not fossilized or one (whether 
fossilized or not) agreeing in most of the more essential features 

" It has been stated on good authority (A. Thompson and D. Randall-Maclver, The 
Ancient Races of the Thehaid, Oxford, 1905 ; and Chas. S. Myers, Contributions to 
Egyptian Anthropometry, Journal of the Anthropological Institute, xxxv, 80-91," 1905) 
that the most ancient known inhabitants of Egypt, dating from about seven thousand to 
eight thousand years ago, show no important difference of type from certain Egyptian 
natives cf the present day. If definitely settled, the fact would be of much importance ; 
it does not appear, however, that much attention was paid to numerous features of the 
skulls such as do not enter ordinarily into anthropometric determinations, but which may 
play a large part in making distinctions. It is often possible to detect just such second- 
ary or less commonly studied characteristics in different localities among the Indians, even 
though these belong to the same general type, and it may be confidently asserted thai 
they would be found to differentiate recent from ancient man in any locality. It should 
be borne in mind also in connection with the Egyptian crania that seven thousand or 
eight thousand years is really but a short period geologically, equaling probably less than 
half of the recent era. See on this subject also E. Schmidt, in the Arch. f. Anthrop., xvii, 
189 et seq., 1888. 



14 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 33 

with a skeleton or a skull of recent, or not very ancient, man in the 
same locality, can not be accepted as geologically ancient, unless the 
geological evidence should be absolutely decisive. Features charac- 
teristic of inferior stages of human development, though to be ex- 
pected in all geologically ancient skeletal parts of man, are not of 
themselves necessarily proofs of antiquity; their presence only 
strengthens the case if associated with other evidence of great age of 
the specimens. 

II.— LIST OF THE SKELETAL EEMAINS 

Interest in man's antiquity in this country began to manifest itself 
at about the same time as the growth of interest in man's natural 
history in general, and with the rise of the science of anthropology 
during the earlier part of the nineteenth century. The Avork of 
Morton in this country and of Prichard in England doubtless had 
great influence in this direction ; Morton's Crania Americana " par- 
ticularly drew attention to the remains of the human skeleton. The 
first find of importance of bones that seemed to indicate the pres- 
ence of early man was made in 1844, and similar discoveries followed 
from time to time. The finds so far made include fourteen speci- 
mens or groups of specimens, the majority of which call for careful 
consideration. They are as follows : 

A. The New Orleans (Louisiana) bones, discovered, in 1844 

B. The Quebec (Canada) skeleton, discovered in (?) 

C. The Natchez (Mississippi) pelvic bone, discovered in 184G 

D. The Lake Monroe (Florida) bones, discovered in 1852 or 1853 

E. The Soda Creek (Colorado) skeleton, discovered in 1860 

F. The Charleston (South Carolina) remains, discovered in (?) 

G. The Calaveras (California) skull, discovered in^ 186G 

IL The Rock Bluff (Illinois) skull, discovered in 1860 

I. The Peiion (Mexico) skeleton, discovered in 1884 

J. The Trenton (New Jersey) skulls, discovered in 1879-1887 

K. The Western Florida skull and bones, discovered in 1871-1888 

L. The Trenton (New .Jersey) femur, discovered in 1899 

M. The Lansing (Kansas) skeleton, discovered in__ 1902 

N. The Nebraska "loess man," discovered in 1894-1906 

A majority of these specimens have been previously examined and 
reported upon,* and within the last few years the writer has reex- 
amined and compared all the more important available material 
and besides has been able to visit the localities of the heretofore iinde- 
scribed western Florida skeletons. The crania and other remains are 
dealt with according to chronological sequence of discovery, Avith the 
exception of those from Florida, which are placed near the last for 
the reason that, although brought to light some j^ears ago, they had 

» Philadelphia, 1839. 

'' For bibliographical references, see the reports in this paper on the several finds. 



HBDLiCKA] SKELETAL EEMAINS 15 

not been studied until the last year. The whole investigation has 
been carried on without preconceived opinions in regard to either the 
presence in or the absence from northern America of early man and is 
in the main a simple anatomical comparison. 

III.— THE NEW ORLEANS SKELETON 

In a number of the older writings touching on the subject of man's 
antiquity in North America, particularly in Nott and Gliddon,* are 
found references to the discovery of an apparently ancient skeleton 
at New Orleans, Louisiana. The original report on this find, usually 
credited to D. B. Dowler,^ is by Prof. D. Drake,^ and reads as 
follows : 

In 1844 I visited two gas tanks, each 60 feet in diameter and 16 feet deep, 
recently sunk in the back part of the city [i. e., New Orleans], and received 
from the intelligent superintendent, Doctor Rogers, an account of what was 
met with in excavating them. At first they encountered soil and soft river 
mud, then harder laminated blue alluvion, then deep black mold resting on 
wet bluish quicksand. . . . The roots and the basis or stumps of no fewer 
than four successive growths of trees, apparently cypress, were found standing 
at different elevations. The first had a diameter of 2 feet 6 inches, the second 
of 6 feet, the third of 4 feet, and the fourth of 12 feet, at a short distance 
up, with a base of 28 feet for the roots. It is embedded in a soft deep-black 
mold. When cut with the spade much of this wood resembled cheese in tex- 
ture, but hardened on drying. ... At the depth of 7 and 16 feet burnt wood 
was met with. No shells or bones of land animals or fish w^ere observed, but 
in a tank previously excavated, at the depth of 16 feet the skeleton of a man 
was found. The cranium lay between the roots of a tree and was in a tolerable 
state of preservation, but most of the other bones crumbled on pressure. A 
small OS ilium, which I saw, indicated the female sex. A low and narrow fore- 
head, moderate facial angle, and prominent widely separated cheek bones 
seemed to prove the skull of the same race with our present Indians. No 
charcoal, ashes, or ornaments, of any kind were found around it. 

On the basis of the foregoing rather defective data and calcula- 
tions as to the probable age of the stumps. Doctor Dowler con- 
cluded (page IT) that the " human race existed in the delta more 
than fifty-seven thousand years ago." On a little reflection this 
estimate shows so many weak points that it can not be accepted 
for anything more than an individual opinion. The notes concern- 
ing the skull, so far as they go, indicate that the specimen resembled 
in the main the skull of an ordinary Indian, but this conclusion 
has little value. It is nowhere stated what became of. the skeleton. 
Drake's remark that " most of the other bones crumbled on pressure " 
makes it probable that few, if any, parts of it have been preserved, 
and also clearly indicates that the bones were in no degree fossilized. 

" Types of Mankind, chap, xi, numerous editions, Philadelphia. 

''Tableaux of New Orleans, 8-9, New Orleans, no date (published in the early fifties). 
'^ A Systematic Treatise on the Principal Diseases of the Interior Valley of North 
America, etc., 76-77, Cincinnati, 1850. 



16 BUREAU OF AMEBIC AN ETHNOLOGY " [bull. 38 

IV.— THE QUEBEC SKELETON 

According to Doctor Usher ^ a fossil human skeleton, '' which was 
dug out of the solid schist-rock on which the citadel stands,'' was 
preserved in the museum at Quebec. There are no particulars in 
print concerning the find ; the skeleton is not preserved in the Laval 
University Museum, the only museum in the city containing objects 
of natural history, and nothing could be learned concerning it 
during the writer's recent visit to Quebec. The absurdity of the 
statement that a human skeleton was " dug out of the solid schist- 
rock ■' will be apparent when it is remembered that the rock is 
Silurian. 

v.— THE NATCHEZ PELVIC BONE 

In 1846 Dr. M. ^V. Dickeson exhibited at the Academy of Natural 
Sciences at Philadelphia a collection of fossil bones obtained by him 
in the vicinity of Natchez, Mississippi, among w^hich Avas a piece of a 
human pelvis. An account of this specimen, which appeared in the 
Proceedings of the Academy in 1846 (page 107), reads as follows: 

This ancient relic of our species is that of a young man of about 16 years 
of age, as determined by its size and form, and by the fact that the epiphyses 
have separated from the tuberosity of the ischium and from the crista of the 
ilium. Nearlj' all the os pul)is is wanting, the upper posterior part of the 
ilium is broken away, and but half the acetabulum remains. That this bone 
is strictly in the fossil state is manifest from its physical characters, in which 
it accords in every respect of color, density, etc., with those of the Megalonyx 
and other associated bones. That it could not have drifted into the position 
in which it was found is manifest from several facts : 1. That the plateau of 
blue clay & is not appreciably acted on by those causes that produce ravines in 
the superincumbent diluvial ; 2. That the human bone was found at least 2 feet 
below three associated skeletons of the Megalonyx, all of which, judging from 
the apposition or proximity of their several parts, had been quietly deposited in 
this locality, independently of any active current or other displacing power ; 
and lastly, because there was no admixture of diluvial drift with the blue clay, 
w^ich latter retains its homogeneous character equally in the higher part that 
furnished the extinct quadrupeds, and its lower part that contained the remains 
of man. 

The find obtained a wide publicity and received the particular 
attention of Sir Charles Lyell on the occasion of his visit to this 
country in 1846. Lyell examined the locality and in his report ^ 
thereon took a rather skeptical view as to the antiquity of the 

" W. Usher, Geology and Taleontology in Connection with Human Origins, chap, xi, in 
Nott and Gliddon's Types of Manltind. 

^ The stratum that contained this and the megalonyx bones " is a tenacious blue clay 
that underlies the diluvial drift of Natchez, and which diluvial deposit abounds in bones 
and teeth of the Mastodon (jifjcinteum " (p. lOG). 

<^ Second Visit to America, ii, 191 et seq., 1846. 



hrdliCka] skeletal REMAINS 17 

remains. In a subsequent work « he states that the pelvic bone was 
taken from a comparatively recent channel known as the Mammoth 
ravine, at the base of a high cliff. 

The cliff consists of a Cretaceous base, a layer of Eocene material, and a sur- 
face deposit of loam or loess. -* 

From a clayey deposit immediately below the yellow loam, bones of the 
Mastodo7i ohioticus, a species of Megalonyx, bones of the genera Equus, Bos, 
and others, some of extinct and other presumed to be of living species, had 
been detached, falling to the base of the cliff. Mingled with the rest, the 
pelvic bone of man — :0S innominatum — was obtained by Doctor Dickeson, of 
Natchez, in whose collection I saw it. It appeared to be quite in the same 
state of preservation, and was of the same black color as the other fossils, 
and was believed to have come, like them, from a depth of about 30 feet 
from the surface [of the cliff]. 

In my Second Visit to America (ii, 197, 1846) I suggested, as a possible 
explanation of this association of a human bone with remains of a Mastodon 
and Megalonyx, that the former may possibly have been derived from the 
vegetable soil at the top of the cliff, whereas the remains of extinct mammalia 
were dislodged from a lower position, and both may have fallen into the same 
heap or talus at the bottom of the ravine. The pelvic bone might, I conceived, 
have acquired its black color by having lain for j^ears or centuries in a dark, 
superficial, peaty soil, common in that region. I was informed that there 
were many human bones, in old Indian graves in the same district, stained of 
as black a dye. . . . No doubt, had the pelvic bone belonged to any recent 
mammifer other than man, such a theory would never have been resorted to ; 
but so long as we have only one isolated case, and are without the testimony 
of a geologist who was present to behold the bone when still engaged in the 
matrix, and to extract it with his own hands, it is allowable to suspend our 
judgment as to the high antiquity of the fossil. 

The Natchez pelvic bone was described in detail and illustrated by 
E. Schmidt in 1872.^ This author takes issue with Doctor Dickeson's 
statement that the bone belonged to a young individual; he con- 
siders it that of an adult, but damaged in such a way that it resem- 
bles an immature specimen. He takes issue also with Sir Charles 
Lyell regarding the antiquity of the bone, declaring his belief that 
it is not recent, but dates from the Champlain epoch.^ Schmidt 
does not furnish any new important facts concerning the find, but 
attempts to substantiate his view by a different interpretation of the 
known conditions. Lyell apparently did not accept Schmidt's con- 
clusions, for the last edition of the former's Geological Evidences of 
the Antiquity of Man contains exactly the same statement concerning 
the Natchez bone as those published previously; and, as he was a 
geologist and visited the locality a short time after the find had 

« The Geological Evidences of the Antiquity of Man, 3d ed., 200 et seq., London, 1863 ; 
4th ed., 236 et seq., London, 1873. 

'> Zur Urgeschichte Nordamerikas, Arch. f. Anthrop., Yj 244 et seq., 1871-72. 

'^ The references of Schmidt to the " Champlain epoch " indicate a different notion of 
this period and a greater antiquity than that now accepted hy American geologists. See 
particularly pa.9:e 233 of. his paper. 

3453— No. 33—07 2 



18 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[BULL. 33 



been made, it seems that his opinion should carry more weight than 
that of Doctor Dickeson. 

Examination and measurements of the specimen gave Schmidt 
nothing extraordinary, and racial identification of the bone was 
justly declared by him to be wholly impossible. 

The Natchez pelvic bone came eventually to the attention of Prof. 
Joseph Leidy , and he reported on it in the Transactions of the Wagner 
Free Institute of Science^ 1889 (ii, 9-10). According to this 
authority — 

the collection of fossils, yet contained in the museum of the academy, are 
well preserved, firm in texture, and stained chocolate brown from ferruginous 
infiltration. The fossils consist of a nearly entire skull and other bones of 
Megalonyx Jeffersoni, teeth of Megalonyx disshnilis and Ereptodon priscus, 
bones of Mylodon Harlarii, bones and teeth of Mastodon americaniis, and teeth 
of Equus major and of Bison latifrons. The human innominatum, somewhat 
mutilated, presents the same condition of preservation and color as the other 
fossils with which it was found associated. ... It differs in no respect 

from an ordinary aver- 
age specimen of the cor- 
responding recent bone 
of man. 

Sir Charles Lyell, 
in an interview w^ith 
Professor Leidy — 
expressed the opinion 
that, although the hu- 
man bone may have 
been contemporaneous 
with those of the ex- 
tinct animals with 
which it had been 
found, he thought it 
more probable it had 
fallen from one of the 
Indian graves and had 
become mingled with 
the older fossils which 
were dislodged from the 
deeper part of the cliff. 
. . . At the time of 
making his communica- 
tion Doctor Dickeson 
intimated that the hu- 
man bone was found at 
a lower level, beneath bones of the Megalonyx, etc., but this would not prove its 
age to be greater than or contemporaneous with the latter. In the wear of the 
cliff the upper portion, with the Indian graves and human bones, would be 
likely to fall first and the deeper portion with the older fossils subsequently on 
the latter. 




Fig. 2. — The Natchez pelvic bone. (After Leidy.) 



HRDLicKA] SKELETAL KEMAINS 19 

Professor Leidy gave the accompanying illustration (figure 2) of 
the pelvic bone in question. It is seen to be a defective right os 
innominatum, which, on comparison with a similar recent Indian 
bone, shows nothing peculiar. This is really all that can be said 
regarding it, and it would be quite useless to speculate as to its 
antiquity. Had the geological evidence been conclusive in referring 
the find to the Champlain or another late geological period, the soma- 
tological features of the bone w^ould not form an insuperable objec- 
tion to this disposition of it. 

VI.— THE LAKE MONROE (FLORIDA) BONES 

In AY. Usher's chapter on Geology and Paleontology in connection 
with human origins, in Nott and Glidclon's Types of Mankind," we 
find an account by Professor Agassiz of fossilized and supposedly 
ancient human " jaws wdth perfect teeth and portions of a foot," 
discovered apparently about 1852 or 1853 by Count F. de Pourtales 
" in a bluff upon the shores of Lake Monroe," Florida. " The mass in 
which they w"€re found is a conglomerate of rotten coral-reef lime- 
stone and shells, mostly ampularias of the same species now found in 
the St. John River, which drains Lake Monroe." The deposit is of 
lacustrine origin and contains remains of animal forms that are still 
in existence. Its age Agassiz could not give with precision; it was 
considered certain by him, however, that " the whole of the southern 
extremity of Florida, with the Everglades, has been added to that 
part of the continent since the basin has been in existence, in which 
the conglomerate with human bones has been accumulating." Cal- 
culations based on the growth of the peninsula and its duration in 
a desert state left Professor Agassiz still " ten thousand years, dur- 
ing which it should be admitted that the mainland was inhabited 
by man." 

The foregoing, unfortunately, seems to be the only account of the 
specimen. It is mentioned by Lyell ^ without any further particu- 
lars. It is not stated at what depth the human bones were discov- 
ered or in what association. There is, finally, nothing known as to 
the physical characteristics of the specimens beyond the fact that 
*' the teeth Avere perfect," and nothing as to their fate. On the 
whole, the claim to antiquity of this particular find is not a strong 
one. Fossilization itself means in Florida but little, as the process 
is even now going on in many portions of the peninsula. There is but 
one possible conclusion regarding the Lake Monroe bones, which is 
that they can not, on the existing evidence, be accepted as proofs of 
the presence of early man on this continent. 

» Excerpts here given are from 10th ed., 352-353, 1871. 

^The Geological Evidences of the Antiquity of Man, 3d ed., 44-45, London, 1863. 



20 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 33 

VII.— THE SODA CREEK SKELETON 

Soda creek is situated in Colorado, in longitude 105° 40% latitude 
39° 35', at an altitude of about 6,570 feet. There are numerous 
springs in the locality, some hot and some cold, the water of which 
deposits mineral substances. In September, 1860, according to a 
report by E. L. Berthoud, C. E.'^ — 

Two miners, ^ybo had been for two months and a half opening a mining claim 
about 200 yards southwest of the springs and at the foot of the hill marked 
on the map of Soda hill, reached at last in the gravel, bowlders, and rocky- 
deposits of Soda bar a depth of 22 feet; here at this depth and about 3 yards 
from the foot of the hill slope they found a human skeleton lying on its face 
and embedded in a deposit of gravel, sand, small bowlders, and fragments of 
the adjacent rock in situ. . . . The skeleton, all whose larger bones, 
though very light and porous, were yet intact, and whose skull was also entire, 
was in a very tolerable state of preservation. Under the skeleton and about 2 
feet lower down they found upon the surface of what the miners call " red 
rock," the trunk, limbs, and roots of a small pine tree, identical in all respects 
with the red pine {P. variabilis) of the adjacent slopes. The bark appeared 
charred and blackened, the wood was light, yellow, and apparently sound. 
. . . On exposure to air, how^ever, it soon became soft and crumbled, more 
like rotten or water-soaked w^ood. The roots and limbs appeared as if vio- 
lently compressed or forced in the seams of the underlying rock. There, then, 
was a point conclusively shown — namely, that prior to the cause which covered 
Soda hill. Soda bar, and Dry Diggings hill with its enormous beds of gravel, 
sand, and bowlders, and its native gold . . . man roved and dwelt in this 
region. . . . Whatever cataclysm buried this member of the human family, 
be he Aztec, Indian, Esquimaux, or Mound-builder, he is for the region above 
mentioned " Jiomo cliluvii testis.'" 

Berthoud's account leaves much to be desired from the standpoint 
of geology. It gives the impression that the material covering the 
human remains and the pine may have been talus of no great antiq- 
uity. The skeleton represented undoubtedly an intentional burial, 
otherwise the bones would, have been crushed. It did not seem to 
present anything very extraordinary and was not fossilized. There 
is no report of a scientific examination of the bones, and no clew is 
given as to what became of them. Under these circumstances it is 
impossible to arrive at any definite conclusion regarding the antiquity 
of the find. What evidence there is speaks more against than for any 
considerable geological age of the skeleton. 

VIIL— THE CHARLESTON BONES 

Emil Schmidt, in his Zur Urgeschichte Nordamerikas,^ gives nearly 
all that is known concerning these specimens. It appears that Prof. 
F. S. Holmes, geologist and paleontologist, of Charleston, while ex- 

« Description of the Hot Springs of Soda Creek . . . together with the remarlsable 
discovery of a human slieleton and a fossil pine tree in the bowlder and gravel formation 
of Soda bar, Oct. 13, 1860, Proceedings of Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, 
XVIII, 342-345, 1866. 

''Arch. f. Anthrop., \, 250 et seq., 1871-72. 



HRDLicKA] SKELETAL REMAINS 21 

ploring the banks of the Ashley river about 10 miles above the 
city, discovered human bones, fragments of pottery, etc., together 
with the bones of the mastodon. Professor Leidy, who was sent by 
the Philadelphia Academy of Sciences to examine the locality, actu- 
ally found human bones associated w^ith those of the mastodon, but 
there appeared in the same connection also a fragment of porcelain. 

Later, in following his investigations in the same region. Pro- 
fessor Holmes discovered further evidences of the coexistence of 
man with extinct animals; these were particularly a human lower 
jaw, a tibia, a femur, some stone implements, and potsherds, which 
were dug out personally from an midisturbed old deposit. The lower 
jaAv was that of an adolescent, and showed a prominent chin and 
strong muscular impressions ; the teeth Avere normal. The femur also 
showed strong development. 

It seems that Professor Holmes has never published his account of 
the finds just mentioned, and there is consequently but little to aid 
us in the effort to reach a conclusion. Schmidt was inclined to accede 
to the opinion that the bones were geologically ancient, and sug- 
gested that they belonged to a man of the Champlain period. This 
view can not be sustained in the absence of more definite information. 
Chemical and detailed physical characteristics of the skeletal parts 
are wanting, and the fate of the bones is unknown. They are not in 
the Charleston Museum. 

IX.— THE CALAVERAS SKULL 

The specimen known as the Calaveras skull is a portion of a some- 
what fossilized human cranium preserved in the Peabody Museum 
at Cambridge. Prof. F. W. Putnam, director of this museum, 
kindly permitted the writer to examine the specimen thoroughly and 
furnished the two photographs which accompany this section. 

History 

It is not necessary to review in this place all that has been written 
about the skull in question; the original detailed account of it will 
be found in J. D. Whitney's Auriferous Gravels of the Sierra Nevada 
of California,'^ and a resume of this, with additional information and 
critical remarks, is contained in W. H. Holmes's thorough Review 
of the Evidence relating to Auriferous Gravel Man in California, 
published in the Report of the Smithsonian Institution for 1899.^ 
It suffices to say that the skull was reported as having been found 
in 1866, in Bald hill, near Altaville, Calaveras county, California, 
by a mine operator, in a shaft which he had sunk, at the depth of 

"Page 267 et seq. ; Cambridge, Mass., 1879. "Page 419-472; Washington, 1901. 



22 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 33 

about 130 feet from the surface, Avhere there Avas a layer of gravel. '^ 
This gravel lay beneath seven alternate layers of lava and gravel, 
and dates from about the middle Tertiary period. The skull had 
adhering to it, or at least to the lower part of its face and to its base, 
a " conglomerate mass of ferruginous earth, water-worn pebbles of 
much altered volcanic rock, calcareous tufa, and fragments of bones," 
and " a thin calcareous incrustation appears to have covered the 
whole skull when found." (^¥hitney, page 268.) On chemical exam- 
ination by Mr. Sharpies, the specimen was found to " have lost nearly 
all its organic matter," and " a large portion of the phosphate of 
lime had been replaced by the carbonate (phosphate of lime 33.79, 
carbonate of lime 62.03 parts in 100). In other words, it was in a 
fossilized condition." 

After the lapse of more than two years from the date of its dis- 
covery the skull came indirectly into the possession of Professor 
Whitney, at that time State Geologist of California, and Avas finally 
placed in the Peabody Museum. The specimen has received much 
attention in the press. The archeological aspect of the find has been 
dealt Avith by Prof. W. H. Holmes in tAvo reports,'^ Avhich give ac- 
counts not only of the skull, but of all the reported California gravel 
finds indicating the presence of early man, and their well-substan- 
tiated conclusions should be consulted in this connection. As to the 
physical characteristics of the skull, the only original data extant are 
those of Professor Wyman, included in the report of J. D. Whitney. 
There are three subsequent accounts, by E. Schmidt,^ J. Kollmann,'^ 
and George A. Dorsey,^ respectively^; but all of these are based on 
Wyman's measurements and on study of the illustrations of the skull, 
not on personal examination of the specimen. This deficiency will be 
remedied in this paper so far as possible. 

Physical Characters 

The specimen (plate i) is rather heavy (ISJ ounces=:446 grams), 
though its Aveight is due mainly to adhering mineral matter. It is a 
A^ery defective skull, lacking nearly the Avhole occipital, both parietals, 
the right temporal, parts of the left temporal, sphenoid, and superior 

« It is nowhere stated on tbe authority of the finder or of Professor Whitney that the 
skull was actually dug out from the gravel. Mr. Mattison, who found it in the mine, 
states simply (AVhitney, p. 2G8) that "he took the skull from his shaft, in February, 
1866, with some pieces of wood found near it." 

^ Preliminary Revision of the Evidence relating to Auriferous Gravel Man in Califor- 
nia, American Anthropolo(jist, n. s., i, 107-121, 611-645, 1809; Review of the Evidence 
relating to Auriferous Gravel Man in California, Smithsonian Report for 1899, 419-472, 
AVashington, 1901. 

'^ Zur Ilrgeschichte Nordaraerikas, Arch. f. Anthrop., v, 253-259, 1871-72 ; also in Die 
iiltesten Spuren des Menschen in Nordamerika, 4.S et seq., Hamburg, 1887. 

<* Ilohes Alter der Menschenrassen, Zeitschr. f. Ethnol., xvi, 185-191, 1884. 

" In Holmes's Review of the Evidence relating to Auriferous Gravel Man in California, 
465-466. 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



BULLETIN 33 PLATE I 




a 




THE CALAVERAS (CALIFORNIA) SKULL AS IT WAS IN 1902 
a Front view; h side view 



HRDLicKA] SKELETAL REMAINS 23 

maxilla, and the lower jaw. The basilar process and the antra of 
Highmore show some firmly adhering material referred to as gravel, 
and in many places the specimen has remnants of a coating (0.25 to 
1.5 mm. thick) of apparently calcareous stalagmite. 

The general somatological aspect of the skull is in no way extraor- 
dinar}^ It is plainly a male skull and belonged to an individual of 
advanced 3^ears, but not of extreme age. In form it was in all prob- 
ability mesocephalic, and of medium height. The face was only mod- 
erately broad for a male ; its height can not be ascertained on account 
of an advanced absorption of the upper alveolar process, but was 
apparently in no respect unusual. The nose is very slightly plat- 
yrhynic (nasal index 53.5), a form that occurs quite commonly 
among Indian crania; and the orbits (with breadth- measured from 
dacryon) are megaseme (index of right 95, of left 91), a condition 
not infrequent among Indians. Facial prognathism Avas insignifi- 
cant ; aveolar prognathism can not be determined. 

The forehead is of medium height and prominence, showing no 
sloping such as might be expected in a male skull of a low form. The 
temporal ridges are not pronounced or high. The supraorbital 
ridges are strong, but not more so than in some modern masculine 
Indian crania; they extend, however, along the whole superior 
border of the orbits, a much less common form. The glabella is a 
little less prominent than the ridges; as a result of this formation 
there is between the latter a shallow depression. 

The face is somewhat damaged, but permits of a number of desir- 
able determinations. The nasion depression is pronounced; there is 
nothing peculiar about the nasal bridge or bones; the nasal aperture 
is pyriform, with the left notch somewhat lower than the right; 
'there are shallow nasal gutters (not rare in the Indian) ; and the 
spine was well develoiDed. The orbits are slightly ovoid in shape, 
their distal part being higher than the proximal, and deep ; their 
borders are not sharp. The malars are of ordinary form and mod- 
erate size, not unusually protruding; the marginal process is not 
large; the zygoma? are strong; the submalar ("canine") fossa? are 
fairly well hollowed. The upper alveolar border shows a loss of all 
the teeth and in front an advanced alveolar absorption (to within 
11 mm. of the nasal notch on the right, and to within even a shorter 
distance on the left, side) ; but as an indication of age these condi- 
tions do not agree with the state of the sutures, and are there- 
fore probably of pathological origin. The palate offers nothing- 
exceptional. 

What remains of the temporal bones presents ordinary features, 
with a medium-sized masculine mastoid. 

As for the base, the glenoid cavities are deep and rather narrow 
antero-posteriorly ; there are high spinous, and quite high vaginal, 



24 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 33 

processes, but the styloids were apparently not much developed, a 
condition often observed in the Indian. The petrous portions are 
seen in a moderate depression between the basilar process and the 
sphenoid, about as in the average Indian.'^ 

Yentrally may be seen a moderately high metopic crest ; impressions 
of brain convolutions are perceptible, especially over the orbital roof, 
but are not pronounced; the sella turcica is normal, the clinoids are 
rather stout, the anterior and posterior being united on the left: the 
dorsum sellse shows in its superior border a deep (4 mm.) median 
notch. 

The thickness of the frontal bone is not greater than in many 
Indian crania (see measurements). 

There are traces of the nasal suture, but its exact state can not be 
determined; the naso-maxillary and the naso-frontal articulations 
seem to be patent on both sides; the malo-frontals show no oblitera- 
tion ; there is no trace of metopic separation ; the spheno-frontal, 
which can be seen on the left, seems to shoAV some synostosis, but the 
spheno-malar and the spheno-temporal sutures appear open; there 
are no signs of obliteration in the coronal and in the right spheno- 
parietal suture, and the same statement applies to what remains of 
the right temporo-parietal and the temporo-occipital articulations. 

Irrespective of its large defects, the specimen shows remarkably 

few injuries, and it is wholly inconceivable that it should have been 

rolled about in a stream bed or subjected to pressure in gravel deposits. 

The measurements permitted by the condition of the skull are as 

follows : 

Diameter frontal minimum centimeters 10. 1 

Diameter frontal maximimi, about do 12.0 

Nasion-bregma arc do 13. 1 

Nose: 

Height (nasion to lowest point of notch border)- — 

Right side ' do 4. 9 

Left side do 5.05 

Breadth, maximum do 2. 7 

Orbits : 

Height- 
Right do 3. 8 

Left do 3.55 

Breadth (from dacryon) — 

Right do 4. 

Left do 3. 9 

Interorbital diameter do 2. 5 

Greatest surface length of the left temporal (measured with a tape) _do 9. 95 

Thickness of bone at frontal eminences millimeters__ 5 to 6 

Maximum thickness of frontal bone, near bregma do 8 

Diameter bizygomatic maximum, about centimeters — 14.3 

" In undeveloped and low-form crania the inferior surface of the petrous bones is on a 
level with the neighboring surfaces, while in the l)est developed skulls of whites and 
other races the petrous portions appear deep in a depression. 



hrdli(5ka] skeletal REMAINS 26 

Comparisons 

A study of the Calaveras skull as compared with other crania, 
particularly with those of California Indians, has been made by 
Dr. Jeffreys Wyman and Dr. George A. Dorsey. Doctor Wyman's 
conclusions are that — ^ 

(1) The skull presents no signs of having belonged to an inferior race. In 
its breadth it agrees with the other crania from California, except those of the 
Diggers, but surpasses them in the other particulars in which comparisons have 
been made. This is especially obvious in the greater prominence of the fore- 
head and the capacity of its chamber. (2) In so far as it differs in dimensions 
from the other crania from California, it approaches the Esquimaux. 

In this report there are tAvo points to which exception must be 
taken. The skull lacks both parietals and one whole temporal ; there- 
fore a measurement of its breadth (given by Wyman as 15 cm.) 
is impossible, and even an approximation to it must remain uncertain ; 
and there is absolute^ nothing about the specimen which approaches 
the high and narrow-nosed, broad and flat-faced, and narrow, keel- 
vaulted Eskimo. Doctor Dorsey's account ^ is more circumstantial, 
but unfortunately is based on a comparison of the Calaveras skull as 
known from Whitney's account and measurements, including the 
slightly misleading illustrations, and not from the specimen itself, 
with a skull of a Digger Indian from Calaveras county. Doctor 
Dorsey recognizes the skull as that of a male, and in summarizing 
states that — 

While the comparison of an actual skull with the drawings of a fragment 
of another must be unsatisfactory, yet the conclusion is necessary that the 
two skulls have the same general features and may easily be pronounced of 
one and the same type. 

The National Museum collection includes two crania and some 
fragments of skulls from caves in Calaveras county, collected and 
donated in 1857 by J. S. Hittell, of San Francisco. All these speci- 
mens had, and most of them still retain, inside and outside, a coating 
of grayish calcareous, stalagmitic deposit, much like that which 
partially covers the Calaveras skull; in fact, on fracture, the deposit 
in the two cases, so far as the unaided eye can perceive, is identical in 
character. None of the cave skulls or fragments show any adhesion 
of gravel. Both the entire specimens are male adult skulls, but one 
(cat. no. 225171) does not appear entirel}^ normal, and its orbits are 
affected in form and size by very heavy supraorbital ridges, so that 
only one of the specimens (cat. no. 225172) appears fit for comparison 
with the Calaveras skull. It is a mesocephalic cranium (cephalic 
index 75.5) of moderate height (basion-bregma leS.G cm.) and general 
good development ; it belonged to a person of about fifty-five years of 

" J. D. Whitney, Auriferous Gravels of the Sierra Nevada, 273. Cambridge, Mass., 1879. 
^ In William H. Holmes's Review of the Evidence relating to Auriferous Gravel Man in 
California, Smithsonian Report for 1899, 465-466, Washington, 1901. 



26 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[bull. 33 



age. It is not a fresh skull ; the bones are quite brittle and seem to be 
largely devoid of animal matter, but no claim is made that it is very 
ancient, and there is no probability that it is so. 

This cave skull (figure 3) is in all essential features closely related 
to the Calaveras specimen. It has similarly strongly developed 
supraorbital ridges, extending along the entire superior border of the 
orbits ; similar depression between the ridges, over the glabella ; simi- 
larly marked nasal depression below the glabella, and about the same 
development of the marginal process of the malar, of this bone itself, 
of the zygoma, and of the nasal spine. There seem to have been pres- 





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Fig. 3. — Cave skull, Calaveras county, California ; side view. 

ent also slight nasal gutters. The orbits in the specimen catalogued 
as no. 225172 are slightly more quadrangular, but otherAvise are nearly 
like those in the Calaveras skull. The alveolar process in no. 225172 
has suffered no absorption ; owing to this fact and to the absence from 
the cave skull of injuries, the lower parts of the faces of the two speci- 
mens differ in appearance, but this dissimilarity is not morphological. 
The forehead in no. 225172, though slightly narrower than that in the 
Calaveras skull, is very nearly as well arched. On the whole, the 
structural resemblance between this cave skull and the Calaveras 
cranium are close enough not only for racial, J^ut even for tribal, 
relationship. 



hrdliCka] 



SKELETAL REMAINS 



27 



The measurements of both specimens which could be secured exactl}' 
or with a close degree of approximation are as follows : 



Cave skull 

(no. 

225172). 



Diameter frontal minimum 

Diameter frontal maximum 

Nasion-bregma arc 

Nose: 

Height, maximum 

Breadth, maximum 

Index, maximum 

Orbits: 

Mean height 

Mean breadth 

Mean index. . •. 

Interorbital diameter 

Greatest surface length of left temporal (measured with a tape) 
Diameter bizygomatic maximum 



9.4 
11.8 
12.3 

5.35 
2.7 
50.5 

3.67 
3.90 
9h.2 
2.7 
9.9 
a 14. 3 



" Approximate. 

The thickness of the frontal bone could not be measured in the cave 
skull on account of the stalagmitic deposit inside, but it is apparently 
very nearly the same as that in the Calaveras specimen. 

The measurements show a somewhat smaller frontal bone in no. 
225172, which probably indicates that the Calaveras skull as a whole 
was larger. At all events such differences are not outside of the scope 
of individual variation within a single people. The remaining meas- 
urements, particularly the important nasal and orbital indexes, are so 
much alike that on the basis of these and of the other resemblances it 
is impossible to do otherwise than to pronounce the two specimens of 
the same type, which necessarily leads to the implication that the 
Calaveras skull is geologically recent. 

There is one feature connected with the Calaveras skull besides the 
scarcity of secondary injuries which may not have received the con- 
sideration it deserves; this is its calcareous coating, which, though col- 
ored on the surface, is white and crystalline on fracture, exactly like 
that of the cave skulls. How could such a coating have been formed, 
and formed with much uniformity, over the surfaces of a skull packed 
in sand or mud and gravel of an ancient river? It is probable that, 
under special circumstances, bones manifest some affinity for calcare- 
ous matter in solution, and it is knoAvn that animal fossils with some- 
w^hat similar coating have been recovered from ancient sands or grav- 
els. This phenomenon is most commonly observed in caves or crevices 
into which .water percolates, carrying lime in solution, and, in view of 
the presence of numerous such caves and crevices in the Calaveras 
region, the occurrence of typical cavern deposits on the surfaces of the 



28 BUEEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 33 

Calaveras specimen must have great weight in favor of its cavern 
origin. A mass of gravel, bones, etc., adhered to the base of the skull 
when discoA^ered, but this was not firmly solidified and could be 
removed without injury to the bone. It had very much the appear- 
ance of debris from some cave or crevice, cemented to the specimen 
while the latter was being coated with stalagmitic deposit. The infil- 
tration or fossilization of the Calaveras skull furnishes no reliable 
test of its antiquity. It will be show^n later in this paper that even 
siliceous fossilization of bones can take place near the surface of the 
ground, and in all probability has taken place within a geologically 
insignificant period. The process is regulated wholly by the local 
mineralogical conditions and the results are of little or no value as 
chronological criteria. 

X.— THE ROCK BLUFF CRANIUM 

The specimen known as the Rock Bluff skull was reported on by 
Meigs,* Schmidt,^ and Kollmann,'' and its claim to geological antiq- 
uity is based mainly on certain remarks found in Schmidt's account. 
According to Meigs, the skull was found, with a lower jaw — 

... in June, 1866, in a fissure of the rock, at Rock Bluff, on the Illinois river 
where it is crossed by the fortieth parallel. The fissure, which is 3 feet wide, 
was filled with the drift material of this region, consisting of clay, sand, and 
broken stone, the whole being covered with a stratum of surface soil. In this 
bed, which apparently had been undisturbed since the deposit, was found the 
skull under consideration, at the depth of 3 feet. 

After giving a description of the specimen, which contains several 
inaccuracies, Meigs speaks of a number of Indian crania which show 
resemblances to that from Rock Bluff, and concludes as follows : 

Bearing in mind the locality in which it was found, the skull under considera- 
tion is so far unique in its ethnical character, that I do not feel authorized to 
refer it to any of the aboriginal American cranial forms with which I am 
acquainted. If the position in which it was discovered be any evidence of its 
age, it belongs, in all probability, to an earlier inhabitant of the American con- 
tinent than the present race of Indians. 

At the time of Doctor Meigs's writing there was apparently extant 
no important evidence of the. geological antiquity of the find, and had 
not the skull been of rather inferior type, it woiTld hardly have 
attracted particular attention. Four years later, however, Schmidt 
gave a detailed description and measurements of the skull accom- 
panied by the statement that he Avas in possession of a letter from 

" J. Aitken Meigs, Description of a Human Skull in the Collection of the Smithsonian 
Institution, Smithsonian Report for 1867, 412-415, Washington, 1868. 

'' E. Schmidt, Zur Udgeschichte Nordamerikas, Arch f. Anthrop., v, 237-244, 1871-72, 
<' J. KoUmann, Hohes Alter der Menschenrassen, Zeitschr. f. Ethnol., xvi, 191-193, 
1884. 



hbdli5ka] skeletal EEMAINS 29 

Professor Baird, at that time Assistant Secretary of the Smithsonian 
Institution, to the effect that the locality at which the Eock Bluff 
skull was discovered had been examined by " McConnell," w^ho found 
that the drift in which the specimen lay was in no way disturbed and 
that, therefore, the skull was not intrusive, but coincided in age with 
the formation of the deposit. Schmidt ends his account with the 
opinion that the age of the two specimens (skull and lower jaw, the 
latter of which he considered as belonging to a different body), pro- 
Added it is established that they were found in undisturbed drift, is 
very considerable and referable to " the Champlain, or even to the 
glacial, epoch." 

A search in the archives of the Smithsonian Institution resulted 
in finding two letters from Mr. McConnell, of Jacksonville, Illinois, 
the donor of the skull. It is not disclosed who Mr. McConnell was; 
there appear to be no contributions under that name to the literature 
of either geology or anthropology. In his letter of June 4, 1866, 
addressed to Prof. Joseph Henry, is the following : 

I have sent to you by express a small box containing a human skull of an 
unusual shape and formation. It is evidently not deformed, but a natural 
skull, and from its shape and the place where it was found it is believed not to 
have belonged to any race of men now known to exist, and it is conjectured 
it may have belonged to a preadamite race, if there was any such race. . . . 
I have never met with such a formed head, either living or dead, as this, and 
for this reason I send it to you, supposing from your opportunities in this 
branch of science you might determine if I am right in supposing this specimen 
not to have belonged to any one of the present races now extant. I now will 
refer particularly to the place where this skull was found. The Illinois river 
. . . has cut through the various stratas down to a level, and in many cases 
below the upper coal-deposits. Along the Illinois bluff the strata of rock cover- 
ing this coal deposit crop out, and this rock is quarried for building purposes. 
In one of these quarries a few miles south of the fortieth degree of north lati- 
tude this skull was found, several feet of clay, sand, and broken stone were 
taken off of the strata, and, in quarrying, a rift or seam in the rock was found, 
about 3 feet wide, filled with the same material that covered the quarry, and 
in this rift or seam in the rock, firmly embedded in this clay, sand, and broken 
material, this skull was found. Examination showed that it had evidently been 
thrown, or washed, into that opening in the rock with the material that sur- 
rounded it. 

In the neighborhood of this quarry and indeed all along the Illinois river 
are found many mounds, called in this country Indian mounds, but evidently 
(they) have no connection with the present race of Indians. 

In an additional note to Professor Henry, of June 11, 1866, Mr. 
McConnell, besides enumerating various persons who would vouch 
for his character, says : 

I have been a long time in the valley of the Mississippi and have traveled 
over most of it and have always had a passion for hunting up old relics and 
studying this and geology by actual personal examination. 



30 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY Lbull. - 

He remarks in closing that — 

The only apparent doubt about the great antiquity of this skull is its perfect 
preservation, but this is owing to the material in which it was found. There are 
other instances in this same locality of like preservation not petrified. 

The foregoing excerpts constitute the total of extant records con- 
cerning the find. It is plain that Mr. McConnell Avas an amateur 
collector and geologist and that the Rock Bluff skull attracted his 
attention mainly by its unusual shape. His notes concerning the 
geology of the find are so meager that no important conclusion can be 
based on them. That Schmidt, and after him Kollmann, Avere in- 
clined to class the skull as geologically ancient could have been due 
only to an imperfect acquaintance with these records and to the low 
forehead of the cranium. At the time of Schmidt's and Kollmann's 
writings sufficient osteological material from the valley of the Illi- 
nois river did not exist to enable them to determine the range of 
cranial variation in that region. - 

The skull itself (plate ii, a) is now part of the National Museum 
collections. Though somewhat injured, especially about the face, it is 
remarkably well preserved, in no way deformed or affected by disease, 
and not at all fossilized. It is dirty yellowish-white in color and 
shows on the left side superficial injuries, which appear as if due 
partially to cutting with an edged implement and partiall}^ to the 
gnawing of rodents, but these are of little significance. Morpho- 
logically, the skull is quite remarkable. Its most noteworthy fea- 
ture, and that wdiich gives it the appearance of a specimen of a low 
type, is its greatly developed supraorbital ridges. These are not in 
the form of arcs, however, as in anthropoids and in the human skulls 
of Spy, Neanderthal, and, to a less extent, in the two Calaveras speci- 
mens, but involve, as general among Indians, only about the median 
three-fifths of the supranasal and supraorbital portions of the frontal 
bone. They project greatly forward, however. The extent of pro- 
jection amounts to 1.1 cm. on the right and 1 cm. on the left side in 
front of a plane passing through points situated on the dorsal side of 
the middle of the supraorbital borders, or 2.5 cm. on the right and 2.4 
cm. on the left side, in front of a vertical plane touching on each 
side the anterior extremity of the malo-frontal suture. This great 
prominence of the ridges brings forward the Avhole supranasal region, 
making the forehead, naturally quite low, appear still lower and 
unusually sloping. It is this extraordinary development of the 
median part of the supraorbital ridges more than deficient develop- 
ment of the frontal part of the cranial cavity that gives this skull 
its aspect of inferiority. There is still another feature which points 
to mediocre development of the cranium, and that is the position 
of the petrous wedges'^ in relation to the neighboring parts of the 

" Both unusually broad in this specimen. 



r. BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



BULLETIN 33 PLATE 





SKULLS FROM ILLINOIS 

a The Rock Biuff skull, side view; b skull from mound 
near Alton, side view; c skull from mound near Albany, 
side view 



HRDLicKA] SKELETAL REMAINS 31 

base. When the base of the skull is viewed from above, it is seen 
that the inferior surface of the right petrous portion is but slightly 
depressed, while that of the left is on the level, and anteriorly even 
slightly above the level, of the neighboring parts — always a sign of 
rather deficient expansion of the cranial cavity, for in a well-expanded 
specimen the petrous portions are seen in a decided hollow. The 
skull shows large mastoids and a well-developed superior occipital 
crest, indicating a powerful musculature; but the temporal ridges 
are not pronounced and their nearest approach to the sagittal suture 
amounts on each side to nearly 6 cm. The face was apparently but 
moderately prognathic, as is general in Indians, and the malars and 
the zygomse w^ere not above medium in strength. The nasal spine 
is low and not very prominent, but this feature constitutes no great 
exception among Indian crania. The palate, the dental arches, and 
the teeth were of only ordinary dimensions; the injured condition 
of the arches and absence of the teeth prevent the giving of meas- 
urements. The foramen magnum is large, indicating probably tall 
stature. The glenoid cavities are deep and spacious. The lower 
jaw^, which was originally with the specimen, is wanting, but accord- 
ing to Meigs's illustration and Schmidt's account, it showed nothing 
that would be uncommon in the low^er jaw of a modern Indian. 

The National Museum collection contains a good series of Indian 
crania obtained from mounds along the Illinois river, with which the 
Rock Bluff skull can be compared; and there are several skulls 
from the Albany mounds, Illinois, in the Davenport Academy of 
Sciences, which can also be utilized in this connection. These mound 
crania are certainly not geologically ancient, though they probably 
antedate the advent of whites into the valley. They show some variety, 
due possibly to tribal mixture, but the predominating type is dolicho- 
cephalic, having rather low orbits and, in males, strongly developed 
supraorbital ridges, with narrow, low, and occasionally very sloping, 
forehead. Mesocephalic forms appear occasionally. With most of 
these skulls the Rock Bluff specimen agrees fairly in every essential 
particular that goes to form a cranial type. Its supraorbital ridges 
alone are quite equaled by those of no. 4401, Davenport Academy 
(plate XIII, a), and in several other specimens they are closely ap- 
proached. Were the Rock Bluff skull mingled with the rest of the 
Illinois River male crania no observer would be likely to single it out 
as especially remarkable. It agrees with most of them even in color. 
The peculiarities it presents are well within the scope of individual 
variation. The following table and illustrations (plate ii, &, c) show 
the resemblances, which are still further strengthened by an exami- 
nation of the whole series of specimens from the Illinois valley. 

In view of the above facts, and irrespective of the wholly unsatis- 
factory geological evidence, the Rock Bluff skull, though regarded 



32 



BUREAU OF AMEEICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[bull. 33 



as of a low type, must be classed with crania from the Illinois River 
mounds, with which it has much in common. The differences are not 
sufficient to indicate any distinct cranial variety, and the specimen 
can not properly be regarded as evidence of a geologically early man 
in North America. 

Measurements of the Bock Bluff skull and of four masculine Indian crania from mounds 

along the Mlinois river. « 



Cat. no. 
4401 ("no. 
3," Albany 

mounds), 
Davenport 

Academy 
of Sciences. 



Diameter antero-posterior maximum, centime- 
ters 

Do., from ophryon centimeters. . 

Diameter lateral maximum .■ do ... . 

Cephalic index 

Basion-bregma height * centimeters. . 

Height of nose do 

Maximum breadth of nose do 

Nasal index 

Height of right orbit centimeters. . 

Breadth of right orbit do 

Index of right orbit 

Diameter frontal minimum centimeters. . 

Thickness of left parietal millimeters . . 

Circumference maximum, above ridges, centi- 
meters 

Cranial capacity cubic centimeters. . 



Rock 
Bluff 
skull. 


Cat. no. 
242966. 


Cat. no. 
136773. 


Cat. no. 
242982. 


19.5 


19.1 


20.3 


17.8 


19.0 


19.0 


20.0 


17.4 


13.7 


13.6 


13.1 


13.6 


70.3 


71.2 


6L5 


76./, 


13.3 


13.9 


(?) 


13.4 


5.25 


5.10 


5.25 


5.25 


2.65 


2.80 


2.80 


2.50 


50.5 


5/,. 9 


53. S 


1,7.6 


3.3 


3.3 


3.2 


3.4 


4.0 


3.65 


3.9 


3.9 


82.5 


90.1, 


82.1 


87.2 


9.7 


9.2 


9.0 


9.7 


5-6 


6-8 


5-7 


5-6 


52.5 
1,430 


52.1 
1,425 


52.3 

(?) 


49.5 
1,260 



17.45 



13.4 
76.8 
13.4 
5.55 
2.40 



(b) 



8.7 
6-8 



a Several of Schmidt's measurements of the Rock Bluff skull, particularly that of the breadth of the 
specimen, are inaccurate, in all probability on account of a defective instrument. 
b Damaged. 



XI.— THE MAN OF PENON 



The remains of the so-called man of Penon consist of a portion of 
the skull and of fragments of other parts of a skeleton, embedded 
in a variety of limestone, discovered accidentally in 1881- in the 
Valley of Mexico. It was reported on in the following year by 
Mariano Barcena,*^ and in 1886 the find Avas described by Barcena 
and Antonio del Castillo in La N aturaleza^ in Mexico. The essential 

" Mariano Barcena, Notice of Some Human Remains Found near the City, of Mexico, 
The American Naturalist, xix, 739-744, August, 1885 ; also, by same author, The 
Fossil Man of Penon, Mexico, ibid., xx, 633-635, July, 1886 ; Noticia acerca del hallazgo 
de restos humanos prehistoricos en el Valle de Mexico, por Mariano Barcena y Antonio 
del Castillo, La Naturalesa, Yii, 256-264, entrega 16, Mexico, 1866 ; Nuevos datos acerca 
de la antiguedad del hombre, en el Valle de Mexico, por Mariano Barcena, ibid., 17, 
265-270, Mexico, 1886 ; Discusiones acerca del hombre del Peiion : Carta del Prof. New- 
berry al editor de La Trihuna, ibid., 18, 284-285, Mexico, 1886; Contestacion a las 
observaciones de la carta anterior, por Mariano Barcena, ibid., 286-288. 



hkdliCka] skeletal kemains 33 

points concerning the specimen, according to these reports, are as 
follows : 

In the month of January, 1884, some quarrying was being done 
by means of dynamite at the foot of the small hill known as " Penon 
de los Baiios," about 2^ miles east of the City of Mexico, and in the 
rocks of the uppermost layer loosened by the explosions a number 
of human bones were found. These were collected by Col. A. Obre- 
gon, who supervised the work, and were delivered by him to the 
minister of jDublic works, who appointed Barcena to make a study 
of them. Several days afterwards Barcena and Castillo, the latter 
a professor of geology, explored the locality of the find. It was 
seen that the human bones came from the uppermost layer of cal- 
careous tufa (in another place called silicified calcareous rock), 
covered with a " recent formation of vegetable earth and marl," 
containing numerous fragments of pottery of Aztec and of modern 
origin. The calcareous rock was found not to constitute an uninter- 
rupted layer and yielded no bones of animals or pieces of pottery. 
Some shells discovered in it belong to the Quaternary as well as to 
the present-day waters. Softer calcareous rocks were found in the 
neighborhood where were also remains of pottery and roots of plants 
clearly modern. In the eastern part of the hill there is a hot-water 
spring, which forms sediments somewhat similar to those containing 
the bones; but the formation of the rock from this source is very 
slow and not extensive. The conclusions of Barcena and Castillo 
were that the deposit containing the human bones was of lake origin 
and belonged to the " Upper Quaternary, or at least to the base of 
the present geological age." Professor Newberry's opinion, expressed 
in the Tribune (see bibliography, page 32), was that the rock is a 
comparatively recent travertine or sediment from the thermal waters 
of that locality. 

The human bones are firmly embedded in and their cavities are 
filled with the rock, which is brownish gray in color and very hard. 
The exposed parts are portions of the skull, clavicle, vertebra?, ribs, 
and the bones from the upper and the lower limbs. They lie in dis- 
order, but are apparently parts of the same skeleton. The bones are 
yellowish in color and present aspects of fossilization. 

As to the anthropological characteristics of the bones, Barcena 
writes as follows : °' 

The greater part of the cranium having been destroyed, it was not possible 
to determine its diameter and thus classify it. . . . The odontological char- 
acteristics indicate that this man belonged to an unmixed race, the teeth being 
set with regularity and corresponding perfectly the upper with the lower. They 
present the- peculiarity, besides, that the canine teeth are not conical, but have 

« The American Naturalist, xix, 743, 1885. 
3453— No. 33—07 3 



34 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[bull. 33 



the same shape as the incisors. . . . The size and shape of the bones of the 
limbs correspond to those of a man of ordinary stature, and from the appear- 
ance of the teeth the man must have been about 40 years old. 

The writer saw the specimens in 1902. The illustrations in La 
N aturaleza (vii, no. 16) and in The American Naturalist (xix, no. 8, 




Fig. 4, — Remnant of the skull of the " Hombre del Penon." (After Barceua, 
in La Naturalcsa, vii, no. 10.) 

1885) , particularly the former, give a fair view of the mass containing 
the skull (figure 4). Altogether, there is not enough of the material 
to warrant any conclusion as to the race of the individual; what 
there is suggests the Indian. There is no excessive prognathism or 



hrdliCka] skeletal kemains 35 

receding loAver jaw, such as might be expected in geologically ancient 
man. The teeth are of ordinary size; they are worn off to a quite 
marked extent, a condition which points to rather coarse vegetable 
diet, and is general among Indians after earl}^ middle i\^e. The canines 
are in no way morphologically peculiar, but their points have been 
worn off to the level of the incisors; this happens invariably, unless 
the teeth are displaced, as the process of attrition advances. 

There is, on the whole, nothing connected with the remnants of the 
Peiion skeleton which would indicate man of a type earlier than, or 
radically different from, the Indian. 

XII.— THE CRANIA OF TRENTON 

There is no other region on this continent that has been brought as 
conspicuously to the attention of archeologists and students of man's 
antiquity as that along the Delaware river in and about Trenton, New 
Jersey. This district is rich in deposits of glacial gravels, and for 
nearlj^ thirty years these have been searched wherever exposed for the 
remains of early man and his art. For nearh^ twenty years, with a 
few intermissions, Prof. F. AV. Putnam, of the Peabod}^ Museum, 
Cambridge, Massachusetts, has carried on, principally through Mr. 
E. Volk, careful explorations of these gravels, with the view of deter- 
mining the -question of man's presence in the Delaware valley before 
the advent there of the Indian. The deposits in the valley have 
yielded many remains and relics of the Lenape (Dela wares), who 
occupied it up to and even for some time after the appearance of the 
whites. They have yielded also implements which were thought to 
belong to an earlier culture, and parts of human skeletons of a seem- 
ingly earlier people. Unfortunately, the geological evidence of the 
presence of earW man in the region is not conclusive, and the age of 
many of the remains is still unsettled. The idea that during post- 
Glacial time or even before the close of the Glacial period man lived 
where Trenton now stands has found adherents, but the best-qualified 
students of the question, including Professor Putnam himself, main- 
tain a careful reserve. 

It was under these circumstances that the writer was invited 
by Professor Putnam, in 1898, to examine all the osteological 
material recovered in the Delaware valley and to determine what 
the anatomical features of the remains indicate as to the antiquity of 
the Trenton man. A detailed account of this examination was pub- 
lished in the Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History^ 
in 1902, and the essentials are here given, with additional observations 
based on the writer's more recent knowledge of certain reports on 
European crania. 



36 BUKEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 33 

Most of the skulls and other bones examined were readily recog- 
nized as those of Indians, and the so-called " gasometer " skull could 
be referred to no other people. There were also a few morphologi- 
cally insignificant fragments, the identity of which remained doubt- 
ful," but there were, in addition, tw^o crania which, on account of their 
peculiar features, could not possibly be referred to the Delawares 
(Lenape) or to any other known American aborigines. These were 
the so-called Burlington County skull and another skull found on 
the site of the Riverview cemetery. These specimens proved to be 
of so much interest that the writer feels justified in repeating here 
their full history and the results of his examination. 

The Burlington County Skull 

This specimen was presented to the Peabody Museum, Cambridge, 
in 1879, by Dr. Charles C. Abbott, of Trenton, who at that time was 
actively interested in the archeology of the valley. The skull was 
discovered accidentally in a field near a small settlement known as 
Sykesville. It had rolled out of the bank of a brook running 
through a field. The geology of the locality is cretaceous, and here 
the green sand marls and stratified clay and sand are overlaid by 
the " southern-drift," as the white pebbles and yellow sand are called, 
Above is a rich alluvial deposit, but this is not a uniform covering, 
the drift often being exposed over considerable areas. It was in this 
drift, unassociated with other bones, that the skull lay. 

The Riverview Cemetery Skull 

This specimen, now also in the Peabody Museum, was procured in 
1887 by Mr. Volk, whose account of the find is as follows : 

A man with whom I was acquainted, employed in digging graves in the 
Riverview cemetery, told me of a skull he had found in a new plot in which 
no burials had been made before. On my arrival at the cemetery he showed 
me the place ; it was an elevated part of the ground, and now there is one grave 
there. The man told me that when he dug that grave he struck with his 
spade, at the depth of about 3 feet, a human skull. There were no other bones 
there, but he noticed a few black lines in the soil. 

The workman gave the skull to Mr. Volk, who in turn gave it to 
the Peabody Museum. On examining the deposits as disclosed in 
the grave, Mr. Volk found from " 6 to 10 inches of black soil, about 
18 inches of yellow drift, and then stratified sand and gravel. This 
skull, according to the information of the man who found it, was 
in the apparently undisturbed sand and gravel." 

" See original publication in Bulletin of American Museum of Natural History, xvi, 
23-62, 1902. See the same paper for bibliography. 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



BULLETIN 33 PLATE III 












,..-9£^^ 


•^aBBB'^Sf^s^.^2--, 






i 


^ 






k 


i 


^>?'^i^ 




i 


f , ■ -S^K 


^^^!l 




r ■ ,,iir*^.'' ','•'• *■> 




■ 

i ■ 
1 


■■'■# ' '^«, *;*■■.. j^:^ . 


^^^1 


4 


V 


, \- _ ^^tf^- . ^. \"^. ■ 


'r^^ 


''^fWM 


m 




Wr 




1 


^ 




% 



, 




b 






r 




^^^^^i^mm^^^^^^ 





SKULL FROM BURLINGTON COUNTY, NEW JERSEY 
a Front view; b side view; c top view 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



BULLETIN 33 PLATE IV 









^ 








> 


^B^-^^lm 




"^ei 





SKULL FROM RIVERVIEW CEMETERY, TRENTON, NEW JERSEY 
a Front view; b side view; c top view 



hrdlicka] skeletal REMAINS 37 

The Burlington Count}^ skull (no. 19513, Peabody Museum) is 
that of a female, fully adult but not of advanced age. This skull 
is symmetrical and not deformed or diseased. (Plate iii.) The bones 
are thin, but of considerable hardness. A slight warping causes a 
partial opening of the right coronal and temporo-sphenoidal sutures. 
The bones apparently retain some animal matter. Their surface has 
suffered a considerable scaling off, but as yet the diploe is not visible. 
The facial parts are much damaged, the superior maxilla being 
almost entirel}^ absent. The mastoids are broken, and the bone above 
them, particularly on the left side, shows numerous perforations; 
there is, however, no indication that these latter are the result of 
disease. The lower part of the occiput is damaged, and the sphenoid 
body is broken across in front of the basi-sphenoid articulation, but 
these injuries have not affected the form of the skull. There is no 
unnatural depression of the region about the foramen magnum. 
The right squama shows a small perforation, probably a recent 
injury ; the bone exposed is scaly almost throughout. There are no 
scratches now visible on the surface of the skull, but such may have 
existed and disappeared with the outermost layer of the bones. 
There are no discolorations with the exception of a peculiar narrow, 
regular band, lighter than the neighboring bone, that obliquely 
encircles the whole cranium. It seems that a narrow firm band, or 
some contrivance provided with such a band, was applied to the head 
or skull and left its impression thereon. There is no metallic dis- 
coloration. 

The skull has very marked peculiarities of form, visible at a glance. 
It is unusually low throughout its whole extent; the outlines of its 
planes are rounded, not angular, and the portion of the specimen 
behind a vertical plane passing through the auditory meati is quite 
markedly larger than the portion anterior to the plane. 

Enough of the face is left to show that it was very narrow, and 
the malars, both preserved, are even less prominent than those which 
we find in an average white female skull. The orbits are megaseme, 
their borders quite sharp, their angles rounded; depth 4 cm. The 
nasal bridge, well preserved, is of fair height, slightly concaA^e in its 
upper half, and not very broad. Nasion depression moderate. Gla- 
bella large, of medium convexity. There are no supraorbital ridges 
proper, but an elevation appears on each side of and adjoining the 
glabella. The interorbital septum measures 2.4 cm. (24.6 per cent 
of the line between the orbital ends of the malo-frontal sutures). 

The forehead is very low, though not sloping. Diameter: Frontal 
minimum 9.3, frontal maximum 11.6; nasion-bregma arc 11.6 cm. 
(33.2 per cent of the total arc from nasion to opisthion). 

The parietals show considerable quite uniform convexity from 
above downward and slightly less so from before backward. The 



38 BUREAU OF AMEBIC AN ETHNOLOGY [bull 33 

sagittal region is but very slightly elevated. The bregma-lambda 
arc measures 11.8 cm. (33.8 per cent of the arc from nasion to 
opisthion). There is only one parietal foramen (right), of moderate 
size. Temporal ridges were not high in position and are barely per- 
ceptible. 

The occipital region is quite full, not protruding; the right side is 
very little more prominent than the left. Occipital ridges and 
depressions are very faint. The temporal regions show moderate 
bulging. The squamae are low. The zygomse are quite slender. 
Pterions are of H form, rather narrow. 

The sutures show as yet no traces of ossification. Their serration 
is superior to that in any of the Lenape skulls. A distinct serration 
is seen in the posterior third of the temporo-parietal sutures, a condi- 
tion which is uncommon. There are no Wormian bones. 

The base of the skull is rather flat. The foramen magnum is 
quite large, measuring 3.8 cm. in its antero-posterior and about 2.9 
cm. in its maximum lateral diameter. The plane of the opening, if 
extended forward, would pass only about 1 cm. beneath the nasion. 
The processes are low, the foramina of moderate size except the fo- 
ramina ovale, which are smaller than the average in female crania. 
The styloids are broken; they were, particularly the left, very slen- 
der. The glenoid fossse are of fair depth, the right being slightly 
more spacious than the left. 

The ventral surface of the skull shows but few and shallow impres- 
sions of the convolutions ; it is scaling off similarly to the outer sur- 
face. Thickness of the left parietal 3 to 4 mm. 

The differences between this specimen and the various Lenape and 
eastern crania, as shown by the inspection, are even more plainly 
indicated by the principal measurements and indices (see tables, 
page 41). The most characteristic features of the specimen are its 
considerable breadth coupled with extreme narrowness of the face ; its 
extremely small height, which is noticeable even if we compare the 
auriculo-bregmatic instead of the basi-bregmatic heights, and which 
gives rise to very low height-length and height-breadth indices, and 
the megaseme character of its orbits. Differences of such nature and 
so great in number are entirely beyond the scope of individual varia- 
tion. A^Tien found in a normal skull, as this is, they can represent 
only racial characters. In this case they effectually differentiate 
the Burlington County cranium from all those crania recognized as 
Indian. 

The Riverview Cemetery cranium (no. 44280, Peabody Museum) 
is that of a male about fifty years of age. It is somewhat damaged, 
but enough of the face as well as of the vault is preserved for almost 
all of the more important measurements. (Plate iv.) The skull 



HRDLicKA] SKELETAL KEMAINS 89 

is normal with the following exceptions: There is a slight depres- 
sion behind the left lower portion of the face, and the angle between 
the plane of the posterior nares and the basilar 2:)rocess is somewhat 
more acute than usual; the left border of the foramen magnum is 
slightly irregular, and on the left side the upper half of the border 
of the occipital is situated somewhat higher than that of the parietal 
bone. The left mastoid also is situated a little more posteriorly than 
the right. All of the features indicate some disturbance in the devel- 
opment of the inferior portion of the left side of the skull. These 
defects were not of a serious enough character, however, to affect the 
general conformation of the skull, and the vault together with other 
parts is symmetrical. 

The surface of the skull shows a large abrasion on the left parietal, 
and several cuts, such as could be .made with the edge of a not very 
sharp shovel, on the left parietal bone ; considerable and deep scaling, 
particularly over the frontal and left parietal regions ; and two dark- 
greenish (copper or brass) discolorations of oval shape about 2 cm. 
in the longer diameter, situated one on the left squama behind the 
pterion, the other near the middle of the right squama, on the parietal 
bone adjoining. Both squamse and the occipital bone give evidence 
of defects caused by injuries. 

Inspection as well as measurements show the Riverview skull to 
be very closely allied to that from Burlington county and in common 
with the latter to differ radically from all other crania described in 
this paper. The Riverview skull presents similar rounded outlines 
of its planes, similar small height, narrow face, and megaseme orbits, 
in comparison with that from Burlington county. The differences 
between the two are only slight, such as are commonly met with in 
the two sexes.^ 

The face in the Kiverview skull is orthognathic, but this character 
is undoubtedl}^ due in part to the previously mentioned backward 
depression of the facial parts. The alveolar process, fairly well 
preserved, presents also but little slanting. The alveolar arch is 
regular and massive; it is rather low (alveolar point to nasal 
border 1.85 cm.), but not very narrow (maximum external width 

** The peculiar features of these crania were well recognized by Prof. F. W. Putnam 
as early as 1888, and are also acknowledged by Doctor Russell in his paper on the Human 
Remains from the Trenton Gravels (148-150). Doctor Russell wrote under the difficulty 
of lacking sufficient material, a circumstance which undoubtedly influenced his incorrect 
final conclusions. Professor Putnam's remarks, made after the presentation by Mr. Volk 
of the Riverview Cemetery specimen to the Peabody Museum, are as follows (Peahodij 
Museum Report, ly, no. 2, 35, 1888) : " This human skull (the Riverview specimen) is 
small and of a remarkable form, and agrees with two others (Burlington County and 
' Gasometer ' skulls) which we have from New Jersey, one of which was certainly from 
the gravel. These three skulls are not of the Delaware Indian type," etc. The only 
error in these remarks relates to the gasometer skull which, after all, was shown to be 
closely similar to the crania of the Lenape (see The Crania of Trenton, Bulletin of 
American Museum of Natural History, xvi, 23, New York, 1902). 



40 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 33 

5.6 cm.). The alveoli of the second incisors and those of all the 
molars are largely obliterated. Judging from the size of the remain- 
ing alveoli, the teeth must have been of somewhat submedium size; 
their number and position were normal. The palate is symmetrical 
and presents nothing extraordinary; its length, from the alveolar 
point to the end of the spine (which is small) is 4.8 cm., its maximum 
width 4.1 cm., height, in front of the first molars, where the bone 
has suffered but little change, 1.45 cm. Posterior nares regular, 
slightly wider near the palate than above; height in middle 2.9, 
width in middle 2,6 cm. 

The nasal aperture is regular, of pyriform shape, with sharp bor- 
ders; there are two small subnasal fossae. The nasal index shows a 
low mesorhyny. 

The submalar fossse are well marked. The malars are not massive 
and show no prominence except directly above the fossae just named. 

The orbits are of moderate size and megaseme index ; they approach 
the quadrangular shape; borders quite sharp, depth 4.4 cm., inter- 
orbital septum 2.65 cm. (27.5 per cent of the line between the orbital 
ends of the malo-frontal sutures). 

Nasal bridge slightly submedium in height, moderately wide. Gla- 
bella quite prominent; the same is true of the ridges which extend 
above the median halves of the orbits. 

The forehead is low, but not sloping. Above the supraorbital 
ridges the frontal bone shows a moderate depression which, in the 
present state of the specimen, is accentuated by the scaling of the 
outer table of the bone. Frontal eminences ordinary. There is a 
persistence of the metopic suture. Diameter frontal minimum 9.6, 
diameter frontal maximum 12.6 cm. ; nasion-bregma arc 12.1 cm. 
(32.1 per cent of the total nasion-opisthion arc). 

The parietal bones show nothing unusual. The eminences are not 
prominent. Temporal ridges low, scarcely traceable. No parietal 
foramen. Bregma-lambda arc 14 cm. (36.8 per cent of the nasion- 
opisthion arc) , showing considerable antero-posterior development of 
the bones. 

The occipital bone shows on the left side above the superior ridge a 
moderate bulging, which produces the before-mentioned somewhat 
greater elevation of the superior half of the occipital over the adjoin- 
ing parietal border on that side. The superior occipital ridge and 
inion elevation are well marked. 

The temporal regions show moderate bulging. The squamae are 
quite low. The zygomse were apparently of only moderate strength. 
Styloids masculine, not very massive. 

Base of the skull : The foramen magnum is, as already stated, 
slightly irregular; its size is moderate (diameter antero-posterior 
3.65, diameter lateral maximum 3.2 cm.). There is no depression of 



HkdliCka] 



SKELETAL REMAINS 



41 



the bones about the foramen. The plane of the foramen, prolonged 
forward, passes 1.2 cm. beneath the nasion. The posterior condyloid 
foramina are obliterated ; the remaining openings in the base present 
nothing unusual. The processes, including the styloids, ar,e all well 
developed. The petrous portions are but slightly sunken below the 
level of the surrounding parts; the middle lacerated foramina are 
smaller than in average whites. Glenoid fossse fairly deep. 

The sutures of the skull show a fine, not very deep serration. 
Obliteration is noticeable only in the sagittal suture, at vertex and 
about obelion, and at a point in front of the pterion, on the left side 
in the coronal suture. The pterions are of the H form, but quite 
There are no Wormian bones. 



narrow. 



Measurements of the Burlington County and Riverview Cemetery skulls, tvith 
minima and maxima of measurements of Lenape and other eastern Indian 
crania of the same general type. 



Capacity (Flower's method) 

Diameter antero-posterior(glabella-occipital) 

Diam.eter lateral maximium 

Height (basion-bregma) 

Cephalic index 

Height-length index 

Height-breadth index 

Nasion-alveon height 

Diameter byzigomatic maximum 

Facial index 

Orbital height, average 

Orbital breadth, average , 

Orbital index, average , 

Height of nasal aperture 

Breadth of nasal aperture 

Nasal index 

Basion-alveon line 

Basion-nasion line 

Gnathic index ( Flower) 



The Burling- 
ton County 
skull (no. 
19513, Pea- 
body Muse- 
um) — fe- 
male. 



cm. 
(«) 



17.7 
14.5 
11.5 
81.9 
65.0 
79.3 



(?) 



C12.0 

n 

3.5 
3.7 

9i.6 



(?) 
(?) 
(f) 

(?) 
{?) 



9.5 



The River- 
view Ceme- 
tery skull 
(no. 44280, 
Peabody Mu- 
seum) — 
male. 



cm. 

18.4 

14.6 

11.6 

79. S 

63.0 

79.5 

6.9 

C12.1 

C57.0 

3.25 

3.55 

91.6 

5.0 

2.4 

U8.0 

7.9 

7.0 

92.9 



Minima and 
maxima Oi 47 
eastern In- 
dian skulls — 
females. 



cm. 

(?) 
16. 9 - 18. 5 

12. 1 - 13. 9 
12.45- 13.5 
66. 1-80.8 
68. 9 - 79. h 
89. 9 -108. 

6.2 - 7.2 
11. 9 - 13. 75 
J^.8 - 56. 3 

2.87- 3.7 

3.6 - 
79.7 - 

4.5 - 

2.2 - 
h5. 1-56.7 

9. 2 - 10. 5 

9.26- 10.5 

95.2 -lOlt.O 



4.25 

'2.5 
5.2 
2.65 



Minima and 
maxima of 21 
eastern In- 
dian skulls — 
males. 



cm. 



17. 1 - 19. 7 
13. - 14. 6 
13. 7 - 14. 6 
67. l^ - 83.8 

71.5 - 83.8 

98. 6 -109. 8 

7.1- 8.4 
13.5 - 14.7 
50. 0-57.9 

3.2- 3.5 
3.85- 

79.5 - 

4.7 - 

2.2 - 
A^.9 - 



4.15 

88.6 
6.1 
3.0 

65.8 



10. 1 - 11. 
10. 35- 11. 45 

93. 6 -lOL h 



" Approximately 1,275 cubic centimeters. ^ Between 1,300 and 1,400 cubic centimeters. 

<^ Approximate. 

Racial Affinities of the Burlington County and Kiverview 

Cemeterf Skulls 

The inevitable conclusions are that the Burlington County skull 
and that from the Kiverview cemetery at Trenton are of a type totally 
different from that of the Lenape, or of any other Indian crania 
from the East or elsewhere of which we have thus far any knowledge. 



42 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 33 

They are skulls of people of a different race with which no further 
acquaintance has yet been made in this country. AVhat this race was, 
the writer was not able to show at the time of the publication of the 
report in 1902. Two possibilities suggested themselves at that time : 
One, that the crania represented some non-Indian people avIio pre- 
ceded the Lenape about Trenton ; the other, that they might be crania 
of later intruders — or immigrants — into that region. The former 
theory could not be accepted without further proof, and the immigrant 
idea seemed hardly plausible, for the Delaware valley had been settled 
largely by Swedes, whose cranial type is radically different. On the 
whole, there are very few localities known, in Europe or elsewhere, 
where normally very low skulls had been observed. 

The problem was slowly followed up, a search being made in the 
American collections for examples and in European literature for 
reports of crania similar to the two skulls under consideration. As 
to other specimens on this continent, it was found that in very rare 
instances a low skull occurs normally among the Indians, but none of 
the few examples seen were of the type of the two Trenton crania, 
the faces especially differing therefrom. The whole research strength- 
ened the conclusion that the Burlington County and Riverview Ceme- 
tery skulls are not Indian. The quest in literature, however, had a 
result which may come very near a definite explanation of the enigma. 
In 1874 VirchoW^ reported a number of extraordinarily low skulls 
mainly from northw^estern Germany, from the Elbe to the coast of 
Holland, drawing attention at the same time to several " Batavian " 
specimens and others of the same nature from the islands in the Zuy- 
der Zee that had been*pictured or described previously.^ All of these 
skulls were comparatively recent, the oldest not dating beyond about 
the ninth century of our era. The majority ranged in form from 
mesocephaly to brachycephaly ; in capacity, from 1,215 to 1,700 
c. c. ; and in vertical height,^ from 12 to 12.85 cm. Several of the 
skulls showed a depression of the base; the majority were free from 
any indication of a pathological condition. Virchow recognized 
these skulls as constituting a distinct cranial form and called the type 
cham(Ecephaly . He thought he recognized it in some Dutch paint- 
ings. As to its significance, he was undecided. 

A year later J. W. Sprengel published an account ^ of some Zuyder 

" R. Virchow, Uber eine niedrige Schadelform in Norddeutschland, Zeitschr. f. Eth- 
nol., VI, 239-251, taf. xvii, 1874. See also Zeitschr. f. Ethnol., ix, 41, 1877, and consult 
in this connection His and Rutimeyer's Crania Helvetica. 

^ Particularly in Blumenbach's Decades craniorum, pi. Ixiii, and in v. d. Hoeven's Cata- 
logue craniorum. 

" Virchow measured this height from hasion to the highest point of the skulls anterior 
to the middle of the sagittal suture. This measurement exceeds that of basion-bregma 
by from 1 to 5 mm. 

'' Schiidel von Neanderthal Typus, Arch. f. Anthrop., Viii, 49-60, pi. v-viii, 1875. 



hrdlicka] 



SKELETAL EEMAINS 



43 



Zee Islands " skulls, in lowness and in other features approximating 
to the type of the Neanderthal cranium. One of these specimens, a 
female skull from the Marken island, showed a height (German 
method) of only 12 cm. 

Finally, toward the end of 1875 J. Gildemeister published a very 
interesting account of a series of remarkably low skulls, from burials 
in the dune under the Bremen cathedral.'^ The burials, about 30 
in number, were all of comparatively modern date, the oldest being 
from the ninth or tenth century of the present era. The majority 
of the crania belonged to the ordinary type, showing a fair height; 
thirteen of the skulls, however, presented chamsecephaly, six of them 
to a most extraordinary degree (see appended measurements). Gilde- 
meister regards these specimens as representative of a distinct phys- 
ical and hence ethnic type, persisting along parts of the northwestern 
coast of Europe to modern times. The resemblance of this type to 
that of the Neanderthal skull is striking, though the lowness of the 
forehead of the latter and its great supraorbital ridges are not 
approached. 

Gildemeister's measurements of the six most pronounced of the 
Bremen low skulls follow : 



Characters. 



Sex 

Capacity c .c . 

Length cm. 

Breadth cm. 

Height (vertically above basion) ...cm. 

Cephalic index 

Height-length index 

Height-breadth index 



No. 1. 



Male. 

1,480 
20.0 
15.0 
11.9 
75.0 
59.5 
79.1 



No. 2. 


No. 3. 


No. 4. 


No. 5. 


Male. 


Male. 


Male. 


Female. 


1, 350 


2, 050 


1,340 


1,290 


19.0 


21.0 


18.5 


18.0 


14.5 


16.3 


13.0 


14.0 


(11.9) 


13.2 


12.0 


11.0 


76.3 


77.6 


70.3 


73.0 


(62.7) 


62.8 


64.8 


61.0 


(82. 0) 


81.0 


92.0 


78.0 



No. 6. 

Female. 
1,270 
18.6 
13.7 
11.5 
73.7 
61.8 
83.9 



The specimens, it is seen, are dolichocephalic to mesocephalic, differ 
greatly in size, and are extremely low. The height-length indices 
are the lowest recorded from smy part of the world.'' None of the 
skulls is reported as in any way pathological. 

The foregoing accounts, which do not seem to have been followed 
by any additional observations of importance on similar material, 

" That is, Marken, Schokland. Urk. The account includes reexamination and illustra- 
tion of Blumenbach's " Batavus genuinus,'' Decades craniorum, pi. Ixiii. See also H. 
Welcker, Craniologische Mittheilungen, Arch. f. Anthrop., i, 153, 1866, footnote ; reports 
on 15 skulls from Urk and Marken, with the average height of 12.7 cm. 

^ Ueber einige niedrige Schadel aus der Domsdiine zu • Bremen, AT)handl. naturw. 
Vereine Bremen, iv, 513-524, taf. xii-xiv, 1875. Also Neue Schadelfunde am Domberge 
zu Bremen, Verhandl. der Berliner Gesellsch. f. Anthrop., Ethnol., and TJrgesch., 120, 
Berlin, 1875. 

'^ The height-length index, based on the vertical, or maximum, height, averages in whites 
near 75 and is generally above 70. 



44 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[bull. 33 



establish the presence in parts of northwestern Germany and Holland 
in or up to recent times of a cranial type characterized by precisely 
the feature which renders so extraordinary the skulls from Burlington 
county and Riverview cemetery, namely, very low height. The 
cephalic index and the capacity of the European chamsecephals 
show a wide range, which easily includes the same characteristics of 
the Trenton specimens. The facial measurements are lacking in the 
German reports, but Gildemeister speaks of a narrow face, a feature 

marked also in the two skulls 
from New Jersey ; and one of the 
latter, it will be remembered, 
shows a trace of basal depression, 
such as noticed in a more pro- 
nounced degree in some of Vir- 
chow's low crania. The illustra- 
tions of the European chamsa- 
cephals (see figures 5 and 6) 
show remarkable general resem- 
blances to the two Trenton 
skulls^ — there are the same 
rounded outline, without sagit- 
tal elevation, of the anterior and 
the posterior plane, similar shape 
of the superior plane, and simi- 
lar aspect of the face. There 
can be no doubt of the relation- 
ship of the two forms, and it now 
remains to account for the occur- 
rence of identical forms in re- 
gions so remote from each other. 
That such marked similarity 
of any two normal, 'important, 
extreme, and repeated forms 
in cranial morphology could be 
of accidental origin has never 
been demonstrated, and, in fact, 
is not conceivable. 
Similarity of skull form due to pathological conditions is rather 
common ; furthermore, the same pathological agency, such as prema- 
ture closure of a suture, affects all skulls in similar manner, giving 
rise to typical forms, the best known of which are plagiocephaly and 
scaphocephaly. A depression of the base, such as was noticed by 
Virchow in several of his low crania and is present to a slight degree 
in the Riverview Cemetery skull, is due to abnormal softness of the 
bones at some period during development, and causes a diminution 




Fig. 5. — Front view of two of the Bremen chamse 
cephals. 



hrdlicka] 



SKELETAL KEMAINS 



45 



in height. But this condition, easily perceivable, affects the rest of 
the skull irregularly and can not possibly account for the large number 
of the low crania, including that from Burlington county, in which 
there is nothing abnormal, and for the chamsecephalic type as a whole. 
This type, though not as yet known with all the detail desirable. 




Fig. 6. — Side and top views of one of the Bremen chamsecephals. 



appears to represent a racial or tribal form, which in some instances 
may naturally be modified, or enhanced in some particular, by patho- 
logical conditions. 

There remains, then, only the question of racial affinity, and this 
narrows down to the following limits : The European and the Dela- 
ware Valley chamsecephals are palpably alike, and both differ greatly 



46 BUKEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 33 

in at least one important character, from the rest of the whites on 
one side, and in all features from all the Indians of whom there is 
any knowledge, on the other. In view of these facts, the conclusion 
is unavoidable that close kinship exists between the European and the 
New Jersey specimens. 

Granted that the western European and the Trenton slmlls referred 
to proceed from practically the same people, we have not yet solved 
their chronological relation. A type of so pronounced character- 
istics is probably old, and may be very ancient; and as its repre- 
sentatives have been found on opposite sides of the Atlantic ocean, 
which might have been traversed accidentally or otherwise thou- 
sands of years ago, the possibility that the American representatives 
of that type may be much more ancient than those found in European 
burials can not be excluded. However, the probabilities are against 
the ancient origin of the crania. The detailed records of New Jer- 
sey show that, while the Delaware valley was settled to a large 
extent by Swedes, there were also some immigrants from Holland, 
among whom were very likely individuals of the low cranial type. 
The deposits in which the Burlington County and the River- 
view Cemetery skulls were found do not preclude comparatively 
recent burials. On the whole, it seems safer and more in line with 
the known evidence to regard the two low Trenton crania as of rela- 
tively modern and European origin than as representatives of Qua- 
ternary Americans. 

XIIL— THE TRENTON FEMUR 

The specimen known as the Trenton femur is a portion of a human 
thigh bone discovered in December, 1899, by Mr. E. Volk, under the 
employ of Prof. F. W. Putnam, in a railroad cut within the limits of 
the city of Trenton. The bone lay 7^ feet (2.286 meters) below the 
surface, in sand, under an apparently undisturbed deposit of glacial 
gravel, and was photographed in situ. Shortly after its discovery 
Professor Putnam kindly submitted the specimen to the writer for 
examination, and soon thereafter reported on it in a preliminary way 
before section H of the American Association for the Advancement of 
Science.^ The detailed account of the find, which Professor Putnam 
has been preparing, has not yet been published. The antiquity of 
this specimen must rest on the geological evidence alone. The bone 
is undoubtedly part of a human femur, from a little below the tro- 
chanters. It shows ordinary dimensions, with a flattening at its " 
upper end such as occurs with especial frequency in Indians, but 

« Winter meeting of the section, at New Haven ; there is no published report of this 
meeting. 



hrdliCka] skeletal REMAINS 47 

there is no possibility of definite racial determination. Th,e specimen 
bears evidence of what appear to be traces of human workmanship ; 
the details of these, however, as well as the details of the physical 
examination and the archeology of the find, will be dealt with by 
Professor Putnam. 

XIV.— THE LANSING SKELETON 

The skeleton of an adult and a portion of the lower jaw of an infant 
were discovered in February, 1902, by the sons of Mr. M. Concannon, 
a farmer near Lansing, Kansas, in digging a tunnel which was to 
serve for storing apples and other farm products. This tunnel enters 
horizontally into a low bench or terrace situated at the base of the 
Missouri river bluffs at the entrance to a small side valley. The 
child's jaw lay about 60 feet, the adult skeleton about 70 feet, from 
the entrance of the tunnel and 20 feet below the surface. The deposit 
in which the bones were embedded and which forms the bulk of the 
bench is an undisturbed loess-like silt, through which at all levels are 
scattered fragments of limestone and shale, the whole presenting great 
variety of composition and considerable irregularity of accumulation. 

The find became known to men of science through Mr. M. C. Long, 
curator of the museum of Kansas City, who, on reading of the discov- 
ery in a local paper, immediately visited the locality in company with 
Mr. E. Butts, a civil engineer. Before the end of 1902 the locality 
had been visited and examined by many prominent geologists, and a 
deep exploratory trench was sunk near the tunnel by Mr. G. Fowke, 
under the direction of Professor Holmes of the Bureau of American 
Ethnology. Scientific reports concerning the find were published by 
Williston,'* Upham,* Winchell,^ Chamberlin,^ Holmes,^ and Fowke. '^ 
It appears that no question has been raised as to the correctness of the 
accounts regarding the location of the human bones; but there are 
important differences of opinion concerning the geological age of the 
deposits and consequently the antiquity of the skeleton. Without 
'going into details, it may be said that Professors .Williston, Upham, 
and Winchell favored a considerable antiquity for both the deposits 
and the specimens, regarding the former as true loess, while Profes- 
sors Chamberlin, Calvin, Salisbury, and Holmes, with Fowke, judged 
the deposits to be not true loess but of a much more recent formation. 

" Science, August 1, 1902. 

* Science, August 29, 1902 ; American Geologist, September, 1902 ; American Anthro- 
pologist, n. s., IV, no. 3, 566, 1902. 

'^ American Geologist, September, 1902. 

«* Journal of Geology, October-November, 1902 ; also notes by Calvin and Salisbury in 
ibid. 

* American Anthropologist, n. s., iv, no. 4, 743—752, 1902. 

f Bulletin 30 of the Bureau of American Ethnology, pt. 1, 1907. 



48 BUREAU OF AMEEICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 33 

In the words of Professor Holmes,'^ whose opinion agrees closely with 
that of the other opponents of the geological antiquity of the find — 
The preferred interpretation of the phenomena is that the relic-bearing 
deposits of the Concannon bench were not laid down in glacial times by the 
silt-charged waters of the Missouri, but that they are a remnant of delta-like ac- 
cumulations formed in comparatively recent times within and about the mouth 
of the tributary valley by locaT subaerial agencies, all save the more protected 
portions having been removed by late encroachments of the ever-changing river. 

The importance of 'the find made it very desirable to consult the 
testimony of the bones themselves. In October, 1902, the Avriter 
therefore visited the locality of the find^ and by the 'courtesy of Mr. 
Long and Prof. E. Haworth ^ was enabled to examine all of the 
bones recovered. A report of the results of this examination and of 
a subsequent study of the skull at the National Museum was read 
before the International Congress of Americanists at its New York 
meeting in the fall of 1902 and was subsequently published.*^ In 
order to avoid double reference, the essential portions of the report 
are herein reprinted with a few minor modifications in the text. 

SOMATOLOGICAL CHARACTERS 

The skeleton is fairly complete, but many of the constituent parts 
are damaged and many fragments are wanting. 

All the parts of the skeleton show a nearly uniform yellowish- 
white color and all are of similar consistency. Portions of the bones 
show adhering soil, which now, in its dry state, is uniformly gray. 
In addition there are spots at which is a closely adhering, hard, 
brittle, grayish, apparently calcareous concretion.^ 

The bones are quite hard and not very brittle ; they are not suffi- 
ciently chalky to mark a blackboard. They fully preserve their 
structure and exhibit no perceptible traces of f ossilization. 

The skeletal parts are all entirely normal — that is, free from anom- 
alies or disease — with one exception; a few of. the articular surfaces 
are surrounded by moderate marginal exostoses, such as occur fre- 
quently in older individuals or in certain forms of arthritis. 

The skeleton is distinctly that of a male of about fifty-five years 
of age. The man was of medium stature (about 1.65 m.) and of 
ordinary strength. The bones of the lower extremities indicate better 
development than those of the upper, showing relatively greater use 
of the former. 

"^ American Anthropologist^ n. s., iv, no. 4, 751, 1902. 

^ In examining the site where the skeleton was said to have lain, a piece of bone, in 
all probability a portion of a human phalanx, was found in situ in the wall of the tunnel. 

° By this time the skull only was in Mr. Long's keeping, the rest of the bones being in 
the care of Professor Haworth at the State University, Lawrence, Kansas. Since then the 
skull has been deposited in the National Museum. 

^American Anthropologist:, n. s., v, no. 2, 1903. 

« Some of this concretion covers the edges of breaks, as in the humerus and femur, 
showing these breaks to be ancient, while more adheres tp the occipital and parietals 
within the cranium. 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



BULLETIN 33 PLATE V 





THE LANSING 'KANSAS) SKULL 
a Front view of skull, with femur and tibia: b side view of skull, with right femur 



HRDLicKA] SKELETAL KEMAINS 49- 

Considered anthropologically, all the parts of the skeleton, and the 
skull in particular, approach closely in every character of impor- 
tance the average skeleton of the present-day Indian of the Central 
states. Zoologically, as well as in growth, the Lansing skeleton and 
the skeleton of the typical present-day Indian of the upper Mississippi 
region are of the same degree and quality. 

There is no resemblance whatever betAveen the Lansing skull and 
the low skulls from Trenton.*^ 

As to the skull, the vault is fairly well preserved, but the facial 
parts and the base are to a large extent destroyed. When recovered 
by Mr. Long the specimen was in pieces, but it has been well repaired 
and is suitable for measurement. (Plate v, «, h.) The skull shows 
good development and is in no way artificially deformed. It exhibits 
slight asymmetry, the left part of the frontal bone protruding 
somewhat more than the right ; such asymmetry is quite common and 
is not due to any detectable abnormal condition. Viewed from side, 
top, or base, the skull is ovoid in shape, the smaller end forward; 
from front and back, particularly the latter, it appears pentagonal, 
with the summit of the figure upward. The forehead is somewhat 
low and sloping when compared with that of a well-developed skull 
of a white man, but appears normal in comparison with the forehead 
of undeformed skulls of Indians. 

The temporo-parietal region shows but moderate convexity; the 
parietal bosses, however, are well defined, though not unduly prom- 
inent. The sagittal region is somewhat elevated, forming a moderate 
sagittal ridge, which extends from about the obelion to bregma; a 
slight ridge is also seen along the metopic line over the middle third 
of the frontal bone. These ridges which, separated or more often 
'joined, are common in Indian skulls, give the cranium, when viewed 
from the front or from the back, its pentagonal appearance. About 
midway between the bregma and lambda the ridge, which from this 
point backward rapidly diminishes, forms a quite marked but in no 
way abnormal summit. 

The occiput is rather bulging, as common in dolichocephaly. The 
base is much damaged, but so far as can be determined it agrees 
in its general features with that of an average skull of the modern 
Indian. The lower jaw also is somewhat damaged; it agrees in 
sexual character with the rest of the skeleton; it may be described 
as about medium in all its features and in no way peculiar ; the chin 
shows fair prominence. There are nine teeth remaining in the lower 
jaw, all of about average male size and all considerably worn down; 
such attrition is the rule with older individuals among the Indians. 

The thickness of the cranial vault and the weight of the skull are 

" See p. -SS et seq. 
3453— No. 33—07 4 



50 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 33 

in no way extraordinary; the thickness of the left parietal below 
the temporal ridge ranges from 4 to 5 mm. 

The supraorbital ridges are quite pronounced, but not unusual 
for a male ; they are restricted, as is the case in many Indian crania, 
to the median half of the supraorbital distance. The glabella is 
not very prominent. The temporal ridges are moderate; nearest 
approach to sagittal suture 4.5 cm. Occipital ridges, except the 
superior, quite indistinct. The zygomse and mastoids are broken; 
the remnants show nothing unusual. 

The nasion depression is well marked ; the interorbital distance is 
moderate (at level of nasion, 2.6 cm.). Nasal bones show fair breadth 
(8 mm. beneath nasion, right 7 mm., left 5 mm., broad). The walls 
of the orbits are rounded, not unduly heavy ; orbital depth ordinary. 

Parietal foramina absent, mastoidal moderate. The situation and 
inclination of the foramen magnum (so far as it is possible to judge) 
and the depth of the glenoid fossae are as in an ordinary Indian skull. 

The sutures show medium complexity and are considerably in- 
volved by synostosis (senile). This is most marked in the coronal 
and the anterior part of the sagittal suture, but extends in lesser 
degree through the rest of the sagittal and the whole lambdoid. All 
the sutures about the temporal bone, and the fronto-sphenoidal, 
fronto-malar, fronto-nasal, and internasal articulations are still free. 

Yentrally the skull shows but few brain impressions, except on the 
temporals, as among modern Indians. The metopic crest is low. 
The capacity must have exceeded 1,500 c. c. 

The skull is dolichocephalic (cephalic index, 73.75) and quite high 
(basion-bregma very nearly 14.0 cm.). The nasal index can not be 
determined. The orbits were probably mesoseme. 

Detail measurements 

Diameter antero-posterior (glabello-occipital) centimeters — 18.9 

Diameter antero-posterior from oplaryon do 18.8 

Diameter lateral maximum do 13.9 

Diameter bregma-basion, near do , 14.0 

Diameter bregma-opisthion do 15. 

Diameter bregma-biauricular line do 12.0 

Diameter frontal minimum do 9.4 

Diameter frontal maximum (along coronal suture) do 11.3 

Nasion-bregma arc do 12. 8 

Bregma-lambda arc do 12. 1 

Lambda-opisthion arc do 12. 9 

Circumference maximum (above supraorbital ridges) do 52,0 

Thickness of left parietal, below temporal ridge millimeters.- 4--5 

Thickness of left parietal, above temporal ridge do G-8 

Estimated capacity cubic centimeters— 1,525-1,550 

The remaining parts of the skeleton have the following character- 
istics: 

Femora. Maximum length of right, 44.0 cm.; left, broken. 



HRDLICKA] 



SKELETAL KEMAINS 



51 



Torsion and inclination of neck moderate. Linea aspera rather 
pronounced but not abnormal. The bones are quite strong. The 
shaft presents a well-marked upper subtrochanteric flattening, as is 
common in the femora of Indians. There is on each femur a rough, 
long, low elevation in the location where the so-called third trochan- 
ter is sometimes found. This low ridge represents a muscular inser- 
tion (gluteus max.), and its marked development is a sign of mus- 
cular activity. 

Tibiw. Maximum length of left tibia, minus spine, about 35.7 cm. 
Right tibia, broken. Bones of medium masculine strength, showing 
neither in form nor in inclination of head anything abnormal. 

Fihulce in fragments, no unusual features. 

Humeri. Length (maximum) of right, nearly 32.0 cm. ; left, 
defective (part lost). No unusual torsion. There was apparently a 
bilateral moderate perforation of the fossa. 

Radii. Length (maximum) of left, 25.4 cm.; right, broken. The 
length of the radius as compared with the humerus is somewhat 
greater than in whites, but such proportion is not rare in Indians. 

Ulna in fragments, no special features. 

All the bones of the upper extremity are somewhat slender. 

Pelvis much damaged, but enough remains to indicate that it was 
rather small and masculine. The superior semicircular lines are 
represented by a marked elevation. 

Measurements 



Femora: 

Diameter antero-posterior maximum at middle 

Diameter lateral maximum at middle 

Diameter antero-posterior at upper flattening. . 

Diameter lateral maximum at upper flattening 

Shape of shaft, right, approaching la. 

Shape of shaft, left, 4. 
Tibise: 

Left, diameter antero-posterior at middle 

Left, diameter lateral at middle 

Index 

Shape of shaft, both, 3 and somewhat 4. 
Humeri: 

Diameter antero-posterior at middle 

Diameter lateral maximum at middle 



Right. 



Left. 



cm. 


cm. 


2.75 


2.8 


2.75 


2.6 


2.45 


2.3 


3.25 


3.85 


3.1 




2.0 




6L5 




1.65 


1.5 


2.2 


1.85 

■ 



« See Hrdlicka, Typical Forms of Shaft of Long Bones, Proceedings of the Association 
of American Anatomists, 14th Annual Session, 55, 1900. 

As these measurements show, the shaft of the tibia as well as the 
humerus is somewhat flattened. 

The height of the individual, judging from the long bones, by 
Manouvrier's tables,^ was about 1.65 m. 



^ Mem. cle la Sac. d'Anthrop. de Paris, 2 ser., iv, 1892. 
^'Anthrop. de Paris, ii, 227, 



See also Revue Mens, de I'Ecole 



52 



BUREAU OF AMEEICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[BULL. 33 



Conclusion 

The inevitable conclusion from the above examination, which was 
conducted with a hope that the specimen might prove beyond doubt 
an ancient one, since such a discovery would be of the greatest impor- 
tance to American and even to general anthropology, is, as expressed 
before, that the Lansing skeleton is practically identical with the 
typical male skeleton of a large majority of the present Indians of 
the Middle and the Eastern states. Any assumption that it is many 
thousands of years old, dating from a past geological period, would 
carry with it not only the comparatively easily acceptable assump- 
tion of so early an existence of man on this continent, but also the 
very far-reaching and far more difficult conclusions that this man was 
physically identical with the Indian of the present time, and that 
his physical characteristics during all the thousands of 3^ears assumed 
to have passed have undergone absolutely no important modification. 

In order to present further evidence in support of the view here 
taken the writer has selected from the collection in the National 
Museum several modern male adult crania of individuals belonging to 
tribes that occupy or occupied sections not far distant from that in 
which the Lansing skeleton was found. The measurements of these 
skulls, contrasted with those of the Lansing cranium, are appended, 
with an illustration (figure 7). The similarities are very apparent. 
If the Lansing skull differs in any way from the others, it is in its 
somewhat better development, particularly over the frontal region. 
But the type of the skulls is the same. It would have been well to 
include some Potawatomi and Kickapoo crania, but these tribes are 
poorly represented in our cranial collections. 

Comparative measurements of the Lansing skull and the skulls of other Plains 

Indians 



Diameter antero-posterior maximum 
(glabella-occipital) centimeters. 

Diameter lateral maximum do. . . 

Basion-bregma height do . . . 

Cephalic index 

Diameter frontalm.inimum. centimeters. 

Diameter frontal maximum (along coro- 
nal suture ) centimeters. 

Nasion-opisthion arc centimeters. 

Circumference maximum (above the 
ridges) centimeters. 

Thickness of left parietal below tem- 
poral ridge millimeters. 

Cranial capacity cubic centimeters. 



Lansing 
skull. 



18.9 

13.9 

a 14.0 

7S.5 

9.4 

U.3 

37.8 

52.0 

4-6 
(&) 



Ponca 

skull (796, 

National 

Museum). 



18.85 
14.2 
14.0 
75.3 
9.0 

11.5 
37.7 

52.0 

4-6 
1,530 



Kaw 

skull (152, 
National 
Museum). 



18.4 
13.6 
13.75 
73.9 
9.2 

U.6 

36.6 

5L2 

4-5 
1,445 



Pawnee 
skull (550, 

National 
Museum). 



18.9 
14.05 
13.4 
7U.S 
9.0 

1L7 
38.1 

52.3 

4-4.5 
1,530 



Pawnee 
skull (531, 

National 
Museum). 



18.7 
13.9 
13.7 

7 U.3 
8.9 

11.1 
35.2 

51.8 

3.5-4.5 
1,480 



" Approximate. 



''Between 1,525 and 1,550 cubic centimeters (calculated). 



hrdliCka] skeletal REMAINS 53 

Near the Lansing skeleton was found a portion of the upper jaw 
of a child six or seven years of age. The bone shows nothing ex- 
traordinary. Three of the teeth (first dentition premolars and a per- 
manent first molar) are still preserved; their size is moderate; the 



^A 



•^/<v.,. 




Fig. 7. — Comparison of tbe nasion-opisthion arcs, geometrically constructed, of the Lan- 
sing skull and three modern Indian crania. — Lansing skull ; Kaw skull 

(152, N. M.) ; Pawnee skull (550, N. M.) ; — ..— .. — .. — Ponca skull (796, N. M.). 

enamel is white, quite bright, and without any cracks. The first per- 
manent molar shows three roots and four cusps. 

XV.— THE FOSSIL MAN OF WESTEKN FLORIDA 

Several lots of human bones, more or less thoroughly fossilized in 
various ways, were discovered on different occasions during the latter 
part of the last century along the western coast of Florida, south of 
Sarasota. 

The Osprey Skull 

This find dates from 1871. On June 4 of that year Mr. J. G. Webb, 
of Osprey, Manatee county (see figure 8), wrote to Prof. Joseph 
Henry, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, as follows : 

I discovered in ditching in my hammock a perfect skull. It was unfortunately 
broken in digging it out, but I shall send all the pieces and you will find no 
difficulty in gluing it into perfect shape. It was intentionally buried (without 
doubt) face up, lying on its back, about 3 to 4 feet below the surface, but had 
become surrounded by a soft, ferruginous rock, which is constantly forming 
wherever a spring comes to the surface. I live on a shell mound adjoining the 
hammock. 



54 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[BULL. 33 



The specimen was sent by Mr. WeJDb as a gift to the Smithsonian 
Institution, and what remains of it is now in the collections of the 
division of physical anthropology of the National Museum. A short 
account of it was published in 1889 by Prof. Joseph Leidy.« On 

continuing the excavation 
in the same place some ad- 
ditional pieces of human 
bones were found, but Mr. 
Webb does not now know 
in what condition they were 
or what became of them. 




Fig. 8. — -Sketch map of Osprey and vicinity. 



The North Osprey Bones 

About 1872, in digging 
another ditch in a shallow 
dry pond bed on the north- 
ern part of his property, 
about ten minutes' walk 
from the location of the 
above-mentioned skull, Mr. 
Webb and his son, J. W. 
Webb, discovered, " less 
than 3 feet deep," another 
lot of fossilized human 
bones, and these also were 
sent to the Smithsonian 
Institution.^ There was no ferruginous or other rock in the neigh- 
borhood of these bones, and their fossilization is of a different nature 
from that of the Osprey skull. Most of these specimens, which are 
in very good condition for study, are preserved in the National 
Museum, a few pieces are in the Peabody Museum, Cambridge (men- 
tioned in the Seventh Annual Report of that institution, 1874, 
page 26), and a few other portions are in the Army Medical Museum. 

" Notice of Some Fossil Human Bones, Transactions of the Wagner Free Institute of 
Science, ii, 9-12, Philadelphia, 1889. 

* The exact location is described by J. W. Webl), in a recent letter, as follows : " North 
of the old sugar mill, on the road to Guptrel, is a ditch running east and west, which 
drains the ' Banana ' pond ; the ditch which now runs on line between the lowland on 
the south and the sandy land on the north used to run through the lowland. If a 
point is taken in a line of the second row of orange trees east of the road a little more 
than halfway from the northernmost tree to the ditch, it will about correspond to the site 
of the old ditch where the bones were taken out. In this lot there were arm and leg 
bones and parts of skull and part of a jaw. They were less than 3 feet deep.' 



hrdlicka] skeletal remains 55 

The Hanson Landing Remains 

About 8 miles north of Osprey and on the same line of shore is a 
locality called, after its owner, Hanson's landing, and here also some 
fossil human bones, consisting of a skull and several other parts of 
the skeleton, were discovered. Early in 1886 this locality was visited 
by Prof. Angelo Heilprin and Mr. Joseph Wilcox, and several parts 
of a fossilized human skeleton were actually found in situ. Pro- 
fessor Heilprin described the find ^ as follows : 

I was conducted to a spot where it had been reported a human skeleton lay 
embedded in the rock. The rock I found to be a partially indurated ferrugi- 
nous sandstone, removed but a short distance from the sea and but barely ele- 
vated above it ; the condition of its exposure was doubtless the result of recent 
sea waste. I was much surprised to find actually embedded in this rock 
and more or less firmly united with it the skeletal remains of a mammalian 
which I had little difficulty in determining to be the genus homo. Most of the 
parts, including the entire head, had at various times been removed by the 
curiosity seekers of the neighborhood, but enough remained to indicate the 
position occupied by the body in the matrix. The depression which received 
the head was still very plainly marked, but unfortunately the outline had 
been too much disturbed to permit of any satisfactory impression being taken 
from it. I was able to disengage from a confused mass of stone and skeleton 
two of the vertebrae, which Doctor Leidy has kindly determined for me to be 
in all probability the last dorsal and first lumbar. The distinctive cancellated 
structure of bone is still plainly visible, but the bone itself has been- completely 
replaced by limonite. 

The same locality was visited again the following spring by Mr. 
Wilcox, who obtained several specimens of fossilized human bones, 
among which was a fairly well-preserved calcaneum. Finally, on 
still another occasion, Mr. Wilcox secured at Hanson's landing " a 
piece of the rock containing the end of a human thigh bone, also 
altered into limonite," which specimen he gave to the University of 
Pennsylvania. 

The South Osprey Remains 

About 1888 Mr. J. G. Webb and his son-in-law, Mr. Griffith, in 
looking for " phosphate rocks " ^' along the shore, discovered about 
a mile and a half south of Osprey the remains of a human skeleton 
embedded in and partly projecting from the exposed rock. The 
following interesting notes concerning this find were furnished by 
Mr. J. G. Webb in a letter addressed to Dr. W. H. Dall, dated October 
29,1890: 

[The human bones embedded in rock] were found on the shore washed by 
every tide, but not so always or very long. The mainland shores of the bay 

" Transactions of the Wagner Free Institute of Science, i, 14-15, Philadelphia, 1887. 

^ The so-called phosphate rocks in this region consist of ancient water-worn fossil 
bones, particularly ribs of large cetaceans. These fossils are found, already in their 
water-worn condition, cemented in the shore rocks and are now being washed out wherever 
the rocks are exposed to the action of the waves. 



56 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[bull. 33 



are wearing away very rapidly — in places a score of feet since I first knew 
the bay. Not so much in this place, but some. The rock in which this speci- 
men is embedded was not long ago covered by the soil and subsoil, which has 
been washed away. Now all along the shore in places, not continuously, are 
beds or masses of a conglomerate rock, ferruginous, varying in color from red 
to black, and which the late Professor Meek said was bog iron ore, and con- 
taining pebbles, many of them phosphate of lime. It was in this hard rock 
that I found and sent Professor Wilcox pieces of Indian pottery, though he 
discovered some himself before that. These beds of conglomerate rest upon 
sand, and so did this other kind of rock I sent you, and you will see projec- 
tions on the bottom of it where the mud of which it was made was cast into 
holes and inequalities in the sand. This same rock, containing occasionally 
an oyster shell, lies in places on top of the hard conglomerate, which would 
seem to show that the skeleton was embedded subsequent to the formation of 
the hard conglomerate, but by an agency similar or identical. 

The bones consisted of the larger part of the thorax, lying, particu- 
larly as regards the vertebrae, fairly well in situ. Two pieces of the 
rock in which the bones were included were chiseled out and sent to 
the Smithsonian Institution and are now preserved in the National 
Museum. Both Mr. Webb (J. G.) and Mr. Wilcox found' small 
fragments of pottery in the rock in several places along the shore of 
the bay adjoining Mr. Webb's property on the south; one of these 
potsherds, apparently a piece of a simple Indian cooking pot, is also 
preserved in the National Museum. 

Examination or the Specimens 

With the exception of a brief report on the Osprey skull and the 
Hanson Landing calcaneum by Leidy, the western Florida fossil human 
bones until now have not been described. In undertaking the de- 
scription of the more important of the specimens, it was recognized 
that the first desideratum was a competent chemical analysis. This 
was kindly made at the Museum chemical laboratory by Mr. W. C. 
Phalen. Four different specimens were analyzed at the same time 
by exactly the same method, and the results were as follows : 



Constituents. 



Oxide of silica (SiOg) 

Phosphoric acid (P2O5) 

Oxide of iron (FegOs) 

Oxide of aluminum (AI2O3) 

Oxide of manganese (MnO) 

Oxide of lime (CaO) 

Oxide of magnesium (MgO) 

Water (HoO) 

Carbonic-acid gas (CO2) 

a Calculated by difference 



Osprey 
skull. 


North Os- 
prey bones. 


Indian 

bones from 

a Florida 

mound. 


5.87 


5.83 


'1.08 


23. 07 


31.66 


34.02 


24.19 


10.16 


.80 


None. 


3.44 


.12 


None. 


Trace. 


Trace. 


30.02 


32.60 


46.77 


.64 


.09 


Trace. 


a 12. 61 

hl.lb 


J «16.22 


f a 12. 09 
i b5.12 



Fossil mas- 
todon. 



2.03 

35.72 

1.52 

5.46 

Trace. 

45.72 

.34 

a 6. 49 

h 2. 72 



b Calculated theoretically. 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



BULLETIN 33 PLATE VI 






SKULLS FROM FLORIDA 

a Front view of Osprey skull ; b, c remains of face of North Osprey 

skull 



hrdliCka] skeletal REMAINS 57 

Mr. Phalen's figures indicate that, except as regards oxide of alu- 
minum, both the Osprey skull and the North Osprey bones show 
greater alteration in their inorganic constituents than do the bones 
of the fossil mastodon. 

The Osprey skull presents a marked diminution of the phosphoric 
acid — that is, the phosphates — as well as of oxide of lime, and a pro- 
nounced increase of silica and especially of iron. It is plain that a 
portion of the phosphates and calcium compounds have been replaced 
by silica and iron, and in that degree the bone is a fossil. 

The North Osprey bones shoAV a somewhat smaller loss of their 
original inorganic constituents than the Osprey specimen and a cor- 
respondingly smaller gain of iron; but the increase in silica is about 
the same as in that skull, and there is present a considerable portion 
of oxide of aluminum, absent from the Osprey cranium. The bones 
are therefore to be looked on as being slightly less fossilized than the 
Osprey skull and as fossilized in a different manner. 

The chemical determinations accordingly leave no doubt that the 
bones in question are fossilized in a considerable degree, a condition 
which has been very generally regarded as an important indication 
of antiquity. 

Physical. Characters 

The Osprey skull (plate vi, a) was thus reported by Leidy r'^ 

The specimen consists of the base of a skull, the vault broken off and lost, 
but retaining part of the face and a fragment of the mandible. The alveolar 
portions of the jaws and teeth are also absent. The fossil beneath is embedded 
in a mass of hard bog ore, while the bottom of the cranial cavity is occupied by 
fine, coherent, siliceous sand. » 

The fossil skull itself is converted into limonite, and the portions where 
exposed are well preserved and not in the slightest degree eroded or water- 
worn. The specimen indicates a well-proportioned ovoid skull, and closely 
approximates in shape an ordinary prepared French skull, such as the writer 
has lying at the side of the fossil. The forehead and contiguous portions of 
the face accord with the usual condition in a white man's skull. The super- 
ciliary ridges are but moderately produced and the nasal bones are large and 
prominent. The occiput has the usual appearance, while its muscular markings 
are not more developed than commonly. Comparative measurements of the 
fossil with a French skull are as follows: 

Fossil French 

skull skull 

Glabella to occipital protuberance 170 mm. 178 mm. 

Breadth above the auditoiy meati 131 mm. 132 mm. 

Breadth of forehead at the temporal ridges 102 mm. 104 mm. 

To the above description may be added the following: The speci- 
men is a small adult or nearly adult and apparently masculine cra- 

" Notice of Some Fossil Human Bones, by Prof. Joseph Leidy, Transactions of the 
Wagner Free Institute of Science, ii, 11-12, Philadelphia, 1889. 



58 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 33 

rnum, in no way deformed or diseased. The nasal bones are not 
above medium in size or prominence, and Leidy must have compared 
them with unusually small specimens to arrive at the conclusion that 
they are "large and prominent." The glabella and supraorbital 
ridges are of moderate masculine dimensions, and remind the observer 
in no way of primitive cranial forms. There is but little left of the 
forehead, but what is present shows a fair degree of arching. The 
orbits are not massive and were mesoseme or slightly megaseme in 
form. The mastoids are well developed, masculine. The walls of 
the skull are of moderate thickness only. The maximum antero- 
posterior diameter (from glabella to most prominent point of occi- 
put) measured accurately amounts to 16.9 cm., but it must have 
been a little greater before the specimen was damaged; the greatest 
breadth can not be measured, but must have been near 14 cm. ; in all 
probability the skull was mesocephalic. The sutures, so far as shown, 
are all patent, or were so before the fossilization took place. There 
is nothing unusual about the remaining visible parts. 

As to the geological age of the skull, it is safe to say that from the 
somatological standpoint there is absolutely nothing about the speci- 
men which could not be found in recent crania of Florida Indians. 
All anatomical indications of great antiquity are Avholly lacking. 
The small size of the skull as well as its form is very nearly dupli- 
cated by nos. 228451 and 228452, two comparatively modern Indian 
skulls in the National Museum collection, from south of Lakie Okee- 
chobee, Florida. 

The North Osprey bones in the Museum collection consist of about 
twenty pieces of one or two adult skulls, parts of two left ossa 
innominata, a femur, a tibia, parts of an ulna and of two fibulae, 
several vertebrae, portions of ribs, a patella, and a number of tarsal 
bones and phalanges. 

The skull pieces are rather above medium (Indian) in thickness 
(the right parietal 6 to 9 mm.), but show no compression or any 
abnormality. It is not possible to reconstruct enough of either 
cranium to show its size and form, but the size can be judged of as 
quite ordinary, and as to the form the uniform convexity of the 
occipital bone speaks against any higher grade of dolichocephaly. 
The upper jaw (plate vi), which is left almost entire, shows a 2.6 
cm. wide nasal aperture, a high and strong nasal spine, and quite a 
marked grade of alveolar prognathism — less than in the negro and 
about equal to that of the present-day Indian. There were 16 
second dentition teeth of moderate size, the canines and the incisors 
being rather submedium. All the teeth that are still present show 
a moderately advanced degree of wear. The palate measures, ex- 
ternally, about 5.4 cm. in length and 6.2 cm. in greatest breadth, 
and is quite deep and parabolic in form. The lower jaw is appar- 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



BULLETIN 33 PLATE VII 




THE NORTH OSPREY (FLORIDA) FEMUR AND TIBIA 



hrdli5ka] - SKELETAL REMAINS 59 

ently that of a male (as are in all probability all the other skull 
fragments) ; it shows a fairly well-developed chin and alveolar pro- 
trusion in a moderate degree. Horizontal length of. the lower ramus 
is about 9.8 cm.; height at symphisis is 3.5 cm. There were 16 
lower second dentition teeth ; the molars of moderate size, the others 
rather submedium; the remaining teeth are normal in form, but are 
somewhat worn down. The upper and lower jaws fit well together 
and undoubtedly belong to the same cranium. 

The two ossa innominata indicate medium masculine size and 
massiveness and are in no way peculiar in form. One measured 
about 19.5 cm. in greatest height and 14.2 cm. in greatest breadth 
(between the anterior-superior and the posterior-superior spines). 
The femur (plate vii) measures 40.5 cm. in the bicondylar and 40.7 
cm. in maximum length ; the neck shows an angle of 130° ; the shaft 
approaches type 1, or the prismatic, in form " and is of moderate 
strength ; the index of the subtrochanteric flattening is 75.8 ; and 
there is present a quite pronounced third trochanter. The tibia 
(plate vii), measured without the spine but with the malleolus, is 
34 cm. long and moderately platycnaemic (index at middle 64.9, at 
nutritive foramen 63.8). The inclination of the head is such as 
would be considered about medium in an. Indian; traces of some 
slight superficial inflammatory process are apparent on the lower 
third of the bone. The remaining bones and fragments are all char- 
acterized by moderate dimensions, and none show any disease or 
abnormality. 

When compared with ordinary recent Indian skeletons, it is found 
that not a single piece of the North Osprey bones exhibits any charac- 
teristic that is beyond the range of normal variation of modern 
specimens. As with the Osprey skull, there is again possible only 
one conclusion, namely, that there is absolutely nothing in these bones 
which would suggest great or even considerable antiquity, geologic- 
ally speaking. 

As to the Hanson Landing finds, all seem to have belonged to one 
skeleton, buried in the ground, before its consolidation took place. 
About all that can be said of th.e bones from the somatological stand- 
point is contained in the report of Professor Leidy,^ who states, with 
special reference to the better-preserved specimens of Mr. Wilcox, 
" They do not differ in any respect from corresponding recent human 
bones." 

The South Osprey fossils (plate viii, a, h) in the hands of the 
writer, are so defective and so embedded in the rock that but little 
can be said regarding them anatomically. There are visible parts 

" See Typical Forms of Shaft of Long Bones, Proceedings of the Association of Ameri- 
can Anatomists, 14tli session, 55 et seq., 1900. 

^Transactions of the Wagner Free Institute of Science, i\, 10, Philadelphia, 1889. 



60 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. S3 

of eight dorsal vertebrae, a number of ribs, and a remnant of the 
sternum. All of these bones are plainly parts of a single adult, 
apparently male skeleton, and their relative positions, with the ver- 
tebrae still in situ, indicate burial, intentional or accidental, of the 
whole body. They show no unusual features. 

Resume 

Summarizing briefly, it may be said that the fossil human bones 
from the west coast of Florida show, somatologically, marked like- 
ness to recent Indian bones, and not a single feature indicative of 
a zoologically lower or otherwise substantially different type of 
humanity. The anthropological evidence of these bones as to any 
considerable geological antiquity must be regarded, therefore, as 
wholly negative. 

The above decisive results of somatological examination when con- 
trasted with the fossilized condition of the Osprey bones suggested 
the desirability of an exploratory visit to the locality, and such a 
visit was made by the Avriter, under the auspices of the Bureau of 
American Ethnology, in February, 1906. As it was apparent that 
the problems involved were largely geological, the Director of the 
U. S. Geological Survey was requested to detail a geologist familiar 
with the Florida formations to accompany the writer in the explora- 
tion. The request was kindly granted and Dr. T. Wayland Vaughan 
was assigned to this duty. His interesting report is embodied in sub- 
sequent pages. 

Osprey was found to be a very small settlement on the little Sara- 
sota hsij, about 12 miles south of the town of Sarasota and about TO 
miles south of Tampa. Mr. Webb's property lies on and at the base of 
a promontory which projects westward nearly half a mile into the bay. 
For about one-third of a mile along the southern shore of this prom- 
ontory runs a well-preserved artificial shell mound. This mound com- 
mences near the point and reaches an elevation of from 15 to 16 feet, 
with a maximum breadth of about 125 feet. Mr. Webb's main house 
stands in the middle of the widest and highest part of the mound, 
which is truncated or platform-like. From this point the mound 
diminishes in width toward the mainland and eventually tapers off to 
a point. Before the shell heap was erected the promontory was ver}' 
low, and it seems that the pile may have been raised gradually by the 
aborigines for the purpose of giving a high and dry location for their 
dwellings. The structure consists entirely of closely packed shells of 
different sizes, all of existing species. Many of the inner shells of the 
mound show but slight traces of decay and not a few still preserve in 
large part their color. In the course of earlier excavations in this 
mound, undertaken by Mr. Norman Spang, it was found that old fire- 



HRDLffiKAl SKELETAL EEMAINS 61 

places are irregularly scattered throughout the mass of shells at dif- 
ferent levels. Shell implements and some fragments of culinary pot- 
tery were encountered, but no burials. 

Situated near the base of the promontory and not covered by the 
shell mound is the so-called hammock land, a layer of black soil com- 
posed largely of decayed organic matter mixed with sand. There are 
several depressions in this piece of land, which to-day is covered by 
an orange orchard. One such depression is situated between the 
shell mound, near its southeastern end, and a low burial mound over 
which passes a wagon road leading to Mr. Webb's residence. It was 
in this hollow, less than 30 feet from the base of the burial mound, 
that Mr. Webb discovered in 1871 his first human fossil, the specimen 
now known as the Osprey skull. Mr. Webb, who is still alive and 
in good health, conducted the writer to the locality, and there, with 
the assistance of a laborer, a trench Avas dug 15 feet long, 6 feet wide, 
and a little more than 3 feet deep. No bones were found, but the 
character and condition of 
the deposits was seen to ad- 
vantage (figure 9). Imme- 
diately below the surface were 
from 15 to 20 cm. (6 to 8 
inches) of black soil, somewhat 
mixed with white sand, under 
which was a layer of white 

1 T' 4= ^ U 1 +1^ ^^^' ^' — Section of deposits showing position of the 

sand. IWO leet below the SUr- Osprey stull. a, Black soil, mixed with sand, 15 to 

face this layer showed patches 20 cm. (6 to 8 in.); &, white sand, showing in lower 

„ -,, ., iT 1 parts yellow patches due to ferruginous deposits, 50 

Ot yellowish to rusty dlSCOlora- to eo cm. (20 to 24 in.) ; c. About where Osprey skull 

tion, due without doubt to dep^ ^^y: ^' Greenish clayey, sandy, and gravelly layer, 

„ . ™ 1 11 74 cm. (29 in.) below surface. Extent unknown. 

osition 01 iron, bome shells 

were found in this sand, but no concretions. Seventy- four cm. (29 
inches) below the surface was encountered a more compact, greenish 
layer, consisting of sand, clay, and fine gravel; this extended to the 
full depths of the excavation. The limonite skull was recovered from 
the middle of the sandy layer, and presumably, from the description, 
near its base. 

The exact location of the North Osprey find was not remembered 
by Mr. Webb (the information given was obtained subsequently 
from his son) and in consequence the spot could not be located, but it 
also was in the dry bed of a small pond. 

It remained to explore the locality where the South Osprey skeleton 
was found. Mr. Webb led the party to the spot. Since the date of 
the find the shore has suffered some loss by erosion, but the general 
conditions remain unchanged (figure 10). The shore is low, the 
elevation averaging perhaps 2 feet above high tide. Beginning at the 
surface the soil consists (figure 11) of a layer of varying depth much 



cl 



62 



BUKEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[bull. 33 



mixed with white sand, and of sand, which is more or less replaced over 
large areas by fiat, irregular masses of fine or coarse fossil-bearing 
conglomerate of widely differing consistency, ranging in color from 
gray to dark brown or blackish. These masses, which in spots reach 
20 inches and even more in thickness, rest upon the irregular surface 
of a more clayey deposit, allied to the greenish basal layer of the 
Osprey skull locality and less permeable by water than the sand and 
soil above it. In this deposit were seen small waterworn pebbles, 
but no larger rocks or consolidations. As to the conglomerate, that 
found at the surface, which forms in places a detachable layer look- 
ing not unlike a lava flow, is finer grained, more grayish in color, and 




Fig. 10. — Shore line at South Osprey. 

contains but few fossils. In places it is as hard as flint, while in 
others, sometimes in close proximity, it lacks firmness and crumbles 
to pieces readily, hardening somewhat, however, on exposure in dry 
places. Below this layer, which is very variable in thickness, and 
sometimes in places where it is absent, is found the coarser conglom- 
erate, of a darker color, in places visibly ferruginous, also differing in 
consistency from spot to spot and containing fossil sharks' teeth and 
many waterworn fossils of cetaceans. These fossils, jasper-like in 
appearance and hardness and plainly not contemporaneous with the 
rock that holds them, are being slowly Avashed out by the waves to lie 
along the beach. The human skeleton was found in a grayish-black 
portion of the upper, finer conglomerate. 



hkdliCka] 



SKELETAL REMAINS 



63 



A closer examination of the land along the shore northward, as 
well as southward, revealed many interesting conditions. Beginning 
with Mr. Webb's house, it was found that a short distance eastward 
from the spot where the Osprey skull was discovered and near the 
end of the shell mound a small stream of brownish water flows into 
the bay; at the mouth of the stream is a bed of irregular, ferru- 
ginous limonite concretions, mostly connected, but easily detachable. 
The concretions appear to be at about the level of the sand Avhich is 
marked by ferruginous discolorations at the locality of the Osprey 
skull. They rest on a clayey and sandy deposit containing no solid 
rock, probably an ancient bed of the bay. The surface of the t?on- 
cretions nearest the mound was seen to include some shells of recent 
species, which may have formed part of the great shell heap. In 







.. a 
..b 



. C 



..d 



Fig. 11. — Section of the layers at the locality of the South Osprey find. a. Soil mixed 
with sand, b. Light fine-grained rock in which the human bones were found, c. Darker 
coarser-grained conglomerate containing ancient fossils, d. Greenish sandy and clayey 
layer. 

these concretions, which resemble those in which the Osprey skull 
is held, were found also small pieces of ordinary Indian pottery. 
For a considerable distance east and south of this locality no rock is 
exposed, but about half a mile to the south ferruginous concretions 
and also some washed-out " phosphate rocks," consisting of cetacean 
fossils, appear on the beach and in the S'hore; thence they increase 
southward until near the place of the South Osprey find, where they 
form a substantial part of the shore. They are covered with the gray- 
ish finer conglomerate above described. They extend for an unknown 
distance south of this locality, and wherever they exist the beach is 
lined with pieces of rock, undermined by the waves and broken down 
by their own weight, as well as with remnants of old fossils washed 
out from this rock. A careful and repeated search failed to bring to 



64 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 33 

light any human bones, but there were found in different places, em- 
bedded in the grayish rock of varying degrees of hardness, many 
recent shells, including,- especially, numerous oyster shells, a few 
pieces of partially mineralized animal bones (deer astralagus and cal- 
caneum) that showed no attrition, as do the old fossils, a conch shell 
of a living species with ferruginous concretionary matter adhering to 
it much like that in the case of the Osprey skull, and, finally, roots of 
a burnt pine, still lying on the beach, about which the concretion was 
in process of formation. (Plate ix.) Everything seen strengthened 
the impression that the solid deposits visible are largely if not 
whoHy of recent formation. While these rocks where exposed are 
being slowly disintegrated by the action of the waves, in all proba- 
bility they are actually forming in other localities, as about the 
above-mentioned pine roots. All the waters in the district, even 
those of artesian origin, are more or less mineralized; they sink 
readily through the surface soil into the underlying sand, but can not 
penetrate so easily into the clayey layer beneath. The result, pos- 
sibly furthered by some chemical affinity of the sand, is a gradual 
deposition of mineral, principally ferruginous, matter, which in the 
course of time becomes sufficient in some places to cement into hard 
rock the sand and whatever the latter contains. The mineralogical 
conditions seem to favor also in an extraordinary way the infiltra- 
tion of the bones and even replacement of their normal constituents, 
the latter i cess constituting fossilization. This is, at least, the sum 
of the unbiased impressions carried away by the writer as a result 
of the examination of the Osprey and South Osprey formations from 
which fossil human bones have been obtained. These impressions, 
the result of independent personal observations, are fortunately sup- 
plemented by the more expert observations embodied in the report of 
Doctor Vaughan, transmitted to the Chief of the Bureau of American 
Ethnology by the Director of the United States Geological Survey. 
The essential portion of Doctor Vaughan's report follows : 

REPORT or DR. T. WAYLAND VAUGHAN 

Osprey is situated on a narrow tongue of land rising some 15 to 20 feet above 
sea level, about one-third of a mile long and from 100 to 150 feet wide. The 
ridge of the tongue is formed by an Indian shell mound. There is an Indian 
burial mound at its base, on its northeast side, and about one-fourth of a mile 
east of Osprey. Portions of a skeleton enveloped and partly replaced by limon- 
ite were found at this locality. Doctor Hrdli(?ka had a pit about 31 feet deep 
dug at this place, and exposed the following section : 

4. Black soil, about 1 foot. 

3. Grayish or white sand, about 2 feet. 

2. Irregular bed of yellowish sand, continuous with the 

above A few inches. 

1. Greenish, argillaceous, and sandy layer Thickness unknown. 

The yellowish sand is the layer in which the skeleton was found. 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



BULLETIN 33 PLATE IX 




OSSEOUS REMAINS IN PROCESS OF SILICIFICATION, FOUND AT SOUTH OSPREY, FLORIDA 



HBDLiCKA] SKELETAL EEMAINS 65 

A study of the lower end of tlie shell mound on its side next to the bay gave 
the following section : 

4. Black soil Several inches. 

3. Shells, numerous species, all of which are recent, 

about 4 feet. 

2. The base of the mound coiitains shells, many of 
which are cemented together and filled with ferru- 
ginous sandstone ; others are filled with greenish 
sand. All stages from the green sand to the fer- 
ruginous sandstone are represented. The layer is 
not uniformly developed, occurring only in places_ G inches. 

1. Green sand to the water level in the bay Thickness undetermined. 

A collection of shells was made from numbers 2 and 3 of the section and were 
determined by Dr. Wm. H. Dall. 

All the species found in no. 2 were also found in no. 3, and all of them are 
recent. 

The geologic age of 2 and 3 is post-Pleistocene. Both from the contained 
fossils and stratigraphic relations they are younger than the Pleistocene of 
North creek. The material in which the fossil human remains were found 
in the old burial mound seems to correspond to the ferruginous layer at the 
base of the shell mound, and can scarcely be older — that is, the human remains 
are post-Pleistocene in age. 

The fossilized condition of the human skeleton was considered cf particular 
importance. A study of the processes at present going on at the base of the 
shell mound clearly shows that no importance can be attached to the ferruginous 
replacement of the bones. All stages in the transformation of the unconsoli- 
dated greenish sand filling the shells to a filling vrith sand cemented by limonite 
and the cementation of the whole by limonitic material can be seen. Numerous 
seepages or springs occur along the upper surface of the green sand bed. It 
is evident that this water contains considerable quantities of oxygen, and that it 
is transforming the green colored ferrous silicate into red or brown ferric oxide 
and silica. Ideal conditions are here realized for this transformation of one 
form of iron into another. 

The conclusions regarding the skeleton found at Osprey are : First, no 
importance can be attached to its state of fossilization; second, the strati- 
graphic relations of the skeleton are such as to indicate a post-Pleistocene, or, 
expressed in other words, a geologically recent age. 

The human bones found along the shore between 1 and 2 miles south of 
Osprey were calcareous but impregnated with minerals. The ferruginous 
material which has been described as from the lower end of the shell mound 
at Osprey is found southward, occurring discontinuously for several miles. 
The upper part of the bank along the beach is a sandy, often hummocky. soil. 
The iron near the water's edge cements together pebbles, shells, or whatever 
happens to be there. The material whence the human bones were obtained is a 
lighter colored, more sandy incrustation over the ferruginous layer,~There i--- 
nothing in the geological conditions under which they were found to indicate 
other than a geologically recent age. 

Between twenty-four and twenty-five years ago a skull was found in ferru- 
ginous material a short distance above the pier, at Hanson's landing. The 
skull was, at least partially, replaced by ferruginous matter. The locality 
was studied geologically. The ferruginous material there is similar to thnt 
at Osprey. It underlies surface soil and sand, consists of sand bound together 

3453— No. 33— 07 5 



66 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY Fbull. 33 

by the brown oxide of iron, and occurs noncontinuonsly just above the water's 
edge. There is no evidence to suggest its not being a recent formation. All 
the conditions under which this skull was found seem to be identical with those 
under which the one at Osprey occurred. Therefore I am of the opinion that 
the Hanson skull occurs in a geologically recent formation. 

Conclusions as to the Age of the Human Remains 

1. No importance can be attached to the fossilized condition of the human 
remains found at any one of the three localities studied. 

2. At Osprey, where paleontologic and stratigraphic evidence is available, the 
evidence is in favor of the human remains being geologically recent. 

3. Positive paleontologic and stratigraphic evidence is absent at the locality 
between 1 and 2 miles south of Osprey and at Hanson's landing. In each 
locality, however, there is no evidence to favor the remains being geologically 
as old even as Pleistocene. 

4. All of the positive evidence and the conditions under which these fossilized 
human bones were found in Florida favor the opinion that man geologically is a 
recent immigrant into that area. 

XVI.— MOUND CRANIA (FLORIDA) 

On further exjDloration of the Osprey region it was found that it 
had been well peopled by the Indian tribes up to comj)aratively recent 
times. A large artificial shell mound (see figure 8) occurs near the 
shore just north of Mr. Webb's property, not very far from the North 
Osprey find of fossil human bones. On the mainland near the South 
Osprey find was a small earth-and-sand mound containing ashes. On 
Caseys key, which lies opposite the Osprey promontory and about 
three-quarters of a mile distant, is another large artificial platform- 
like shell heap, and a little south of this were discovered on digging 
many pieces of human bones and even entire bones, apparently quite 
recent, representing probably a secondary multiple Indian burial. 
Finally, 6 or 7 miles south of *Osprey, near Laurel, occurs a large sand 
mound which contained many Indian burials ; similar mouniis north 
of Osprey were learned of, especially about Sarasota and on a key 
opposite Sarasota. A skull which the writer recovered from the 
Laurel mound is in form much like the Osprey skull ; and the bones 
from the Casey Key burial are in general much similar to the fossils 
of North Osprey. 

^XVIL— THE NEBRASKA "LOESS MAN" 

After having concluded the above review of the older discoveries 
of human remains in North America to which considerable antiquity 
has been attributed, the Avriter was fortunately afforded the oppor- 
tunity of making detailed studies of the most recent example of finds 
of that class — ^the so-called Nebraska "loess man." The following 
pages embody the results of these investigations. 



hrdliCka] skeletal REMAINS 67 

History of Finds 

In June, 1894, during a search for the buried remains of the 
famous Indian chief Black Hawk, Messrs. F. T. Parker, William 
Morris, and Charles S. Huntington, all of Omaha, Nebraska, dug 
into a low eminence on the crest of a w^ooded ridge known as Long's 
hill, situated near and running parallel with the Missouri, about 3 
miles north of Florence and 10 miles north of Omaha. According 
to Mr. Huntington, the only survivor of the three, they made a 
moderate-sized excavation in the elevation. When the work had 
progressed to a depth at Avhich Mr. Huntington's head was, as he 
expresses it, " about on a level with the surface of the ground " (his 
height is 5 feet 7 inches), he uncovered on one side, in the wall of 
" yellow dirt," * about 20 inches ^ above the floor of the pit or trench, 
a skull which fell out with the earth surrounding it, and on coming 
in contact with the ground separated into a number of pieces.'' Mr. 
Huntington says that he was impressed at once with the unusual 
forehead of the specimen, a feature which induced him to carry the 
fragments home with him. No other skulls or large bones were 
uncovered, and as the mound yielded no archeological objects, the 
work of excavation w^as soon abandoned. The fragments of the 
skull were placed in the garret, and there lay unnoticed until the 
latter part of 1906, when, reading of the Gilder discoveries, Mr. 
Huntington recalled his own find; thereupon he gathered the pieces 
and sent them, through Mr. Gilder, to the University of Nebraska. 
This specimen, which is truly remarkable, has been skillfully recon- 
structed in the geological laboratory of the university, and is now 
known as skull no. 8 of the Gilder Mound series. 

A second episode in the exploration of the mound is best told in 
the w^ords of one of the explorers. The following account, prepared 
for the writer by Mr. R. F. Gilder, a journalist and amateur arche- 
ologist, residing in Omaha, was received February 15, 1907 : 

During the early summer of 190G, iu looking for flint implements, I came 
accidentally across the mound iu the summit of Long's hill, dug into twelve 
3'ears before by Messrs. Parker, MoiTis, and Huntington. The excavation was 
about 4 feet square and 2 feet deep, and was filled with leaves from the adja- 
cent trees and refuse mold from the ground about the opening. 

Early in September I revisited Long's hill and found that in the interval 
some one had been digging in the old excavation. A few pieces of human bones 
lay on the comparatively fresh earth, and I found later that Mr. Bankey, a 
neighboring farmer, had picked up on the mound portions of the upper and lower 
jaws froin the right side of a skull. 

« Mr. Huntington makes no distinctions in the deposits beneath the 10 or 12 inches of 
dark surface earth, referring to them in general as " yellow dirt." 

^ Mr. Huntington indicated about this height from the floor, on the side of his safe. 

" According to a later recollection of Mr. Huntington, the skull was taken from the 
earth in one piece ; it was filled with clay and later separated into fragments. 



68 BUKEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 33 

Three days thereafter I started my first ditch through the old excavation, 
beginning on the east side of the hole and running eastward. The bottom of 
the hole was tilled with loose earth, which had been recently moved. I did 
not find anything that day and only made fair progress through the mound, 
as I worked from top to bottom, a depth of about 5 feet. 

The Sunday following, accompanied by Omer Butler, an artist on the World- 
Herald, I continued my work at the hill. . . . The very first shovelful of 
earth brought out a large femur and then immediately a mass of bones were 
brought to light, many of which were broken. 

I then cleared off the surface and worked down from above. The upper part 
of the mound consisted of earth which I knew had been moved. ... At 
21 feet . . . small pieces of charcoal, bits of mussel shell as large as my 
finger-nail, and quartzite spalls were found in the earth. I judged the burial 
to be similar to other (fire) burials in that and other sections which I had 
previously encountered. Beneath the blackened mass I found fragments of 
calcined clay, bits of which I have retained, while beneath this again, at a 
depth of 41 feet from the surface, the ground was so hard and compact that it 
was removed with the greatest difficulty in my rather cramped quarters in the 
trench. Four inches beneath this compact earth — which at the time I believed 
to have been hardened by fire — and nearly 5 feet from the surface, I brought 
out skull no. 5. There was no other bone near it. I was obliged to return to 
the city, but before the skull was removed Mr. Butler made a sketch of it as it 
lay in the ground and of the trench and its surroundings. I held my tape 
measure from the surface to the skull so that it would be accurate, and the 
tape was sketched in the picture. 

I have unearthed many skulls in this vicinity of what I term ancient and 
modern Indian types, and I at once noted the vast difference between them 
and the one I held in my hand. 

After securing the first skull I worked in the hill at every available moment, 
but I was accompanied by personal friends whom I requested to memorize 
everything pertaining to the bones, skulls, and environment. 

With my stepson, George C. Clark, I began on the south side of a 20-foot 
circle from what I took to be the mound's center and drifted in toward the 
point whence I had taken the skull, expecting to strike the skeletal parts. Our 
trench was wider than my first. We were compelled to build smudge fires to 
keep the mosquitoes away, but w^e worked several hours and found the larger 
bones of a skeleton at a level 12 inches (tape measure) above the level of no. 5 
skull. No other skull was found ; the femurs and shin bones were in good con- 
dition. Skulls nos. 3 and 4 were also taken at this point, but several inches 
lower than the femur bones. The earth was as hard as plaster, and digging 
was exceedingly difficult. Whatever bon^s were found near the skulls were 
combined with them as if belonging to the crania. 

The following day Mr. Clinton A. Case accompanied me. We widened the 
ditch I had first dug and carried it 8 feet to the west. We then cut off the 
intersecting corner of the first ditch and that which I had run with my stepson. 
At 3 feet deep we secured skulls nos. 1 and 2 . . . and some of the upper 
parts of the skeleton bones. They lay with their heads toward the center, skele- 
tons radiating from the center. We also took a skeleton without skuU lying at 
same level. 

The following day I worked alone. I sunk a ditch from the surface, 5 feet 
long and 3 feet wide, 2 feet south of the ditch running east and west, and 
secured the lower leg and foot bone of the skeletons recovered with Mr. Case. 
In the south corner of this ditch 1 sunk a shaft 41 feet and brought out the 
mandible of a skull. No other bones were within 15 inches of it. I tunneled 



HRbLicKA] gitl:L:BTAL REMAINS 69 

under the north and south ditch dug with my stepson and found a jumble of 
what I believe are the skeletal parts of a youth. 

The next operations were made with Mr, Bankey. We took from a 3-foot 
level on the northeast corner of the intersection of both ditches, or at the north 
end of the north and south ditch, a badly mashed skull in some score or more 
of pieces. I believe this is no. x in the collection. The skull is very thin, and 
when taken out it was hard to tell which way it lay. There were also two 
femur bones reposing vertically, which led to the belief that the body had been 
buried squatting. 

I had determined when at work with my stepson and again verified in my 
own mind when working with Mr. Case that an intrusive burial had taken 
place. 

I first showed the crania of nos. 3, 4, and 5 to people in the office of the World- 
Herald, then to Dr. E. C. Henry, demonstrator of anatomy at Creighton Medical 
College in Omaha, and Doctor Henry wrote a description of them, which we 
published. I took the three skulls to Lincoln and showed them to Doctor Ward 
and Professor Barbour. . . . When the featured article in the World- 
Herald of October 21 reached my brothers and sisters in New York, they noti- 
fied Prof. Henry Fairchild Osborn, who came at once to Omaha, examined the 
material and gave me a statement for publication. Skulls nos. 1 and 2 had 
been added since Doctor Ward and Professor Barbour had seen the collection, 
and Professor Osborn immediately noted a variation and called on me for an 
explanation, which was given him as I give it to you. 

A week after my story was figured in the World-Herald of October 21, Joseph's 
father called me by telephone and told me that his son had a skull similar to 
the ones figured. I visited his house and saw the similarity to my own crania. 
His mother told me to take it, that her son was at the university, and that she 
knew he would be glad to have it go with the others. 

The lad came to see me a month afterwards. He said he had been looking for 
Indian turnips in the neighborhood of Long's hill and had come onto the old 
excavation made by the three men twelve years ago. He said he had, with the 
aid of his knife and sticks, penetrated into the old loose earth and run onto 
skull no. 6 when he had gotten down to a level of his shoulders. He is nearly 
f> feet tall. It took him a half day to get it out with a large pocketknife, and 
he also found a portion of another. He thought it was an Indian skull and 
took it home. With the skull was a piece of a jaw (lower), and this fitted 
exactly with the one found by Mr. Bankey. 

I have said Tittle about this skull. Joseph thinks he can get a fortune 
for it 

With or near the bones discovered by Mr. Gilder were several 
stone implements, among them two flint blades of ordinary form. 
There was no trace of pottery. The better-preserved bones were 
collected and kept about Mr. Gilder's house until the question of 
possible geological antiquity of the deeper burials arose, when they 
were transferred to the University of Nebraska, at Lincoln. 

On November 16 Prof. E. H. Barbour, geologist and paleontologist 
of the University of Nebraska, by arrangement with Mr. Gilder, took 
charge of the further excavations. As the work progressed he became 
convinced that the bones of the lower levels — ^that is, those more than 
4^ feet, approximately, from the surface, were contemporaneous with 
the original (lacustrine) loess deposits; and thenceforth the excava- 



70 teTJREATJ OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [stTLL.SS 

tions, in Avhat came to be known as the '' Gilder mound,' Avere prose- 
cuted with particular care. Shafts were sunk in several localities, 
and one of these w^as carried down 12 feet. The results of this work, 
which continued with the assistance of Doctor Condra and several 
others as long as the weather permitted, were not very striking; 
the finds, however, consisted of about 200 fragments of bones, which 
were attributed to the ancient and undisturbed loess deposits. They 
were found very much scattered, there being only about " five or six 
bits to the cubic yard." These showed no regularity of distribution, 
and grew scarcer with increasing depth. The piece of what is prob- 
ably human bone found at the greatest depth was llj feet below 
the surface. Some of the fragments lay apparently outside of the 
mound proper. There were no animal bones, implements, or pottery. 

The first notice of the discovery in a scientific journal was pub- 
lished by Professors Ward and Barbour in Science of November IG, 
1900, and since then there have appeared a number of other papers 
dealing w^ith the subject." In Science of January 18, 190T, Professor 
Barbour expressed definitely his belief in the antiquity of the deeper- 
lying bones and proposed to designate the " primitive type " which 
he was convinced they represented, as the " Nebraska loess man." 

Extracts from several of the papers referred to, embodying the con- 
clusions of the writers regarding the " loess man," are given in 
the following pages. As the matter thus presented is necessarily 
incomplete, however, and may possibly do injustice to the authors, 
the student of the subject is advised to consult the original pub- 
lications. 

Barbour and Ward, Science, November 16, 1900. " The skulls of the Nebraska 
man seem to be inferior to those of the mound builder, but for the present at 
least will be viewed as early representatives of that tribe. In corroboration 

^ BihlicgrapUij : Gilder, R. F. First notice, World-Herald, Omaha, October 21, lOOG. 

Barboitr, E. TI., and H. B. Ward. Preliminary Report on the Primitive Man of 
Nebraslia (October .26, 1906), Nebraska Geological Survey, ii, pt. 5, 219-327, 4 figs. 

Barbour, E. H., and H. B. Ward. Discovery of an Early Type of Man in Nebrasica 
(October 24), Science, November 16, 1906. 

Gilder, R. F. A Primitive Unman Type in America ; the Finding of the " Nebraska 
Man," Putnam's Magazine, 407-409, 2 figs., .Tannary, 1907. 

Ward, H. B. Peculiarities of the " Nebraska Man," Putnam's Magazine, 410-413. 
3 figs., .January, 1907. 

Barbour, E. H. Prehistoric Man in Nebraska, Putnam's Magazine, 413-415, 502-503, 
3 figs., January, 1907. 

OsBORN, H. F. Discovery of a Supposed Primitive Race in Nebraska, Century, 371-375, 
7 figs., January, 1907. 

Barbour, E. II. Evidence of Man in the Loess of Nebraska, Science, 110-112, January 
18, 1907. 

Gilder, R. F. The Nebraska Loess Man, Records of the Past, vi, pt. 2, 36-39, 5 figs., 
February, 1907. 

Barbour, E. IL Ancient Inhabitants of Nebraska, Records of the Past, vi, pt. 2, 
40-46, 5 figs., February, 1907. 

Barbour, E. H. Evidence of Loess Man in Nebraska, Nebraska Oeological Survey, ii, 
329-345, with figures, 1907. 

Blackman, E. E. Prehistoric Man in Nebraska, Records of the Past, vi, pt. 3, 76-79, 
March, 1907. 



HRDLicKA] SKELETAL REMAINS 71 

are the flint implements or chips found .associated with the skulls and bones, 
and the mode of burial." 

OsBORN, Centnt^y magazine. January, 1007. Page 373. " The parts of the older 
four crania found beneath the clay layer are of the same type, it being proba- 
ble that difference in age may account for the slight differences in the develop- 
jnent of the supraorbital ridges. In each the facial profile is almost the 
same. . . . This profile is seen to be of a much more primitive character, sur- 
rounding a bone with a more depressed frontal area than that of the skulls 
found above the clay. Unfortunately the back part of each of these four crania 
is wanting, and until this can be secured through subsequent discoveries it is 
impossible to give an exact estimate of the cranial capacity or brain weight of 
this primitive man. Estimating the back of the skull as of the same height as 
that of the normal Indian skull, . . . we still have a very low cranial capacity 
and a type of skull resembling that of the Australian negro, which is virtually 
the lowest existing type known at present. While the supraorbital ridges are 
not more pronounced than that of the Australian negro," the forehead is even 
more receding and flattened. In other words, the portions of the cranium pre- 
served indicate, so far as they go, a man of small cerebral capacity, having a 
brain inferior to that either of the Indian or the typical mound builder." 

Page 375. " To return to the recent discovery in Nebraska, the comparisons 
which we are able to make now prove that this cranium is of a more recent 
type by far than that of the Neanderthal man. It may prove to be of more 
recent type, even, than that typified by the early Neolithic man of Europe. 
Even if not of great antiquity it is certainly of very primitive type and tends 
to increase rather than diminish the probability of the early advent of man in 
America." 

Gilder, Putnam'' s Magazine, January, 1907. In commencing the excavations 
in the mound I came, "at 4 feet beneath the surrounding level, upon what ap- 
peared to be a compact clay bed, differing from the loess covering in which I 
had been working. There were visible evidences of ancient fire. ' What I took 
to be a clay bed burned into a semblance of brick proved to be the original to]) 
of the loess hill. Fire had been built upon it, and on the ashes an upper layer 
of bones was laid. It was so hard as to resist the spade. I managed, however, 
to make a considerable hole through the surface, and few inches down I found 
the upper portion of a human cranium. 

" In drifting in another ditch, from the south side, I encountered the same 
stratum of baked earth. Fifteen feet from the beginning of the ditch I cross- 
sectioned the mound from west to east and then cleared a circle 8 feet in diam- 
eter. . . . This gave me a much better opportunity to work from above the 
bones. Evidence of fire above the bones was very marked. The earth beneath 
the ash bed was very dry and extremely hard, and I was puzzled not a little as 
to how the burial had been made. Nor was I able to tell precisely how the 
skeletons had been laid, but appearances indicated that the heads lay toward 
the center and that the feet radiated therefrom. Two seemed to have been pliaced 
in a squatting position — the femurs and spinal vertebrae being in a vertical 
position close together. 

" The manner of burial differed radically from that observed in other mounds 
I had opened in this vicinity and elsewhere. It seemed that a lower stratum of 
skeletons had been placed in the mound, and that earth had then been piled 
on top and burned to the consistency of a plaster wall. In another part of the 

" " It will be understood that some of the existing types of savages and aborigiqes have, 
through survival or degeneration, a smaller cranial capacity than the ancestors of the 
European types. For example, the Botocudo Indians of Brazil are described as having a 
very low type of cranium." 



72 BtTEEAtr OF AMEElCAK- ETHNOLOGY [buLL.33 

mound, some 5 feet distant, lay the upper layer of skeletons ; but with three 
exceptions these skeletons had been disarticulated and more or less scattered 
about. Over the bones had been laid a covering of loess, scraped up and carried 
to the mound for the purpose. Through this covering were scattered small 
pieces of shells of a kind very different from the bivalves of the streams in this 
vicinity at the present day." 

Gilder, Records of the Past, February, 1907. Skull no. 5 " lay in what I took 
to be a baked clay matrix. Before 1 reached the skull I had worked through 
earth similar to other coverings of remains in the neighborhood and through 
several inches of what appeared to be earth and ashes, beneath which was the 
stratum which looked as if it had been burned. I had not at that time learned 
that an intrusive burial had taken place, and naturally concluded that the earth 
had been baked over the skull in order to prevent the leaching of the bones by 
rains." 

Ward in Barbour and Ward, l^^ehraska Geological Survey, ii, part 5, 1906. 
Page 321. " The limb bones are massive and large, indicating a stature of 6 
feet, and uncommonly rough, indicating a people who were very muscular, 
particularly in the lower extremities. The strikingly large protuberances sup- 
port this view. The crania are low browed, with heavy, protruding supercil- 
iary ridges, and receding foreheads, which lack frontal eminences. In life 
these people had flat bends, protruding muzzles, large chins, and heavy brows, 
shading eyes deep set and close together. The low-browed crania are not the 
resillt of head-binding, nor are they those of idiots, nor are they malformed. 
Instead they are normal and represent the cranial development of the time. 
Though showing many points of similarity as well as differences, on the whole 
they seem inferior to the mound builder, and we may for the present at 
least consider the Nebraska man as a very early or degenerate mound builder. 
In corroboration are the crude flint implements or chips, whichever they are, 
associated with the bones, and the mode of burial in mounds." 

Page 325. " The writers haA^e frequently seen examples equally ancient, but 
these are the first authentically located." 

Page 327. " The bones of the lower layer seem synchronous with the loess for- 
mation and antedate the hill itself, while those of the upper layer are younger 
than the loess and subsequent to the hill." 

Ward, Putnam's Magazine, January, 1907. " The skeletons collected by Mr. 
Robert F. Gilder all present such striking characteristics that even at first 
glance one is compelled to recognize their peculiar type. The individual bones 
are well preserved, but heavy, brittle, and without the spongy character of such 
as have been exposed to the leaching of water in the soil. 

"All the long bones of the skeleton are massive, of more than average length, 
and distinguished by the very unusual prominence of the rough areas for muscle 
attachment and also of the protuberances which subserve the same function. 
In these particulars the leg bones are the most striking. Their development 
indicates clearly the platycnemic condition usually regarded as characteristic 
of primitive people. The femur has a strong curve forward, which is not lack- 
ing in modern skeletons but has been noted by many as peculiarly characteristic 
of ancient femora. 

" Judging from the location of the glenoid cavity and the length of the lower 
.law, the latter probably did not project very conspicuously. This lower jaw 
is one of the most remarkable parts of the skeleton. It is relatively short, very 
massive, and double the thickness of a modern mandible." 

The 'skulls show that " the bone is on the whole massive beyond the usual 
limits in modern skulls." 

" The sutures are usually distinct, sometimes simple, sometimes complicated. 



Hrdli^ka] skeletal REMATK^ ^S 

marked by numerous Wormian ossicles, and in one case with a large triangular 
interparietal between the occipital r.nd parietal bones. 

" In the calvaria. the two mort conspicuous elements are the enormously de- 
veloped superciliary ridges and the low arch of the crown. 

" The parietal diameter or maximum breadth of the skull reached 140 to 150 
mm. The cephalic index could not be calculated with full accuracy on account 
of the imperfections of the specimens, but in one case was estimated as 79 and 
in a second was somewhat less. In two of the skulls from the higher level of 
the mound, the cephalic index was 71 and 78, while their maximum breadth was 
133 and 141 mm., which serves to indicate the prominent differences in form 
between the two groups of calvaria. In the skulls of the upper layer, more- 
over, the bone is very much thinner and has an entirely different appearance 
and texture. 

"All in all the skeletons of the lower layer show many points in common with 
primitive types of the human race. In some particulars these primitive char- 
acters agree with those of the mound-builders, ancl yet points of difference are 
also observable. Compared with the tribes of Indians which inhabited this 
region immediately before the coming of the Caucasian, these remains show 
radical differences." 

Barbour, Science, January 18, 1907. " Long's hill ... is a hill of erosion, 
and no discoverable land slip has complicated its simple geology. On its sum- 
mit is Gilder's mound, in the superficial layer of which were found mound- 
builder remains and in the deeper layer eight skulls and many bones of a still 
more primitive type." 

The upper layer, in which the two " mound-builders' " skulls were discovered, 
" has a thickness of 2^ feet. Below it was an undisturbed layer of unmistak- 
able loess and in it numberless fragments of human bones and an occasional 
animal bone, loess shells, and stray angular pebbles. 

" In brief, the conclusion is that in the case of the upper bone layer there was 
a burial ; in the lower, deposition. Those in the loess doubtless antedate 
the hill itself, while those in the upper layer are subsequent to it. That archaic 
burial could have taken place in loess without detection is altogether improb- 
able. Of necessity there would result a mixture of black with light soil and a 
breaking up of the lithologic structure. Where these bones occur, the loess 
structure and color is perfectly preserved, and it contains characteristic vertical 
lime-tubes, concretions, and shells, precisely as is customary. Out of the evi- 
dence at hand the writer concludes that bones of this layer were strictly syn- 
chronous with the loess formation in which they were found, in substantiation 
of which comes the fragmental nature of all of the bones, their waterworn condi- 
tion, their range of distribution, and disassociation of parts. 

" One would scarcely think of such conditions being possible in the case of 
human burial ; besides, it is improbable that a primitive people would dig graves 
to a depth of 12 feet." 

As to the age of the supposed loess man. Professor Barbour says : " The chief 
point is the evidence that human remains have been found in the loess, and 
whether this is the very oldest or newest loess seems a secondary considera- 
tion. The loess here is A)t leached of lime salts, but is actively effervescent at 
all levels, arguing for recency of deposition. All recognize the chronological 
diversity in the loess formation, and whether Long's hill is in the main loess 
body, as we believe it to be, or in a much more recent one does not materially 
affect the relation of the bones to some stage of glaciation, the precise glacial 
or interglacial age being as yet undetermined. 

" The loess in question rests on Kansan drift, and though as young as the later 
Wisconsin sheet or younger, it is nevertheless old." 



74 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY Ihui.i,. 33 

Barbour, ]\'chi(ifiJca (tCoUxjical Survcjj, ii, part ('», 1907. For the most part the 
same words as in Science, January IS. 

Addition.^. l*afre H'M\. " Uesi)e('tinj2^ the antiquity of the remains, the chief evi- 
dence paleontoloj^ically mnst be derived from the slcnlls, which seem to be of 
the Neanderthal type. Evidences from other siveletal i)arts are subject to error, 
owing to the wide range of variation in human bones. The association of 
loess fossils is significant, and when even a remnant of any extinct species is 
found it will be final. No sign of stratification, which would be valuable evi- 
dence, can be reported." 

Page 34G. " The skulls are of the Neanderthal type, with thick protruding 
brows, low forehead devoid of frontal eminences, large parietal eminences, nar- 
row temples, thick skull walls, and small brain cai)acity." "They are higher 
in the human scale than Neanderthal man, but lower than the mound builder. 
They resemble the man of Spy." 

Page 847. " Skull 8 scarcely varies in size and shape from Pithecanthropus 
crecins." 

As to the age of the man in the Nebraska loess. Professor Barbour repeats, 
with but slight modifications, his conclusions on the subject published in Science 
of January IS. The discovery is believed to carry "man in America back to 
Glacial times." But he adds that " In several places adjacent to (gilder's 
mound exposures of human bones in supi)osed loess are already known, and 
investigation ])romises to ext(Mid the ])resent known limits of the supi)osed 
human bone bed." 

Black MAN, Records of the Past, March, 1007. No personal observations on 
Gilder mound or specimens from the same. Quotes Professor Barbour as fol- 
lows : "From a geologist's standpoint there is scarcely a possibility that these 
bone fragments were ever buried by human hands. Instead, the bones were 
doubtless deposited with the loess, the age of which may be safely reckoned at 
ten thousand to twenty thousand years or more." 

Further on (page 77) Professor Blackman records the following interesting 
observation : " I suggested to Doctor Barbour the possibility that gophers may 
have worked the bones from the higher to the lower level. I have found buf- 
falo bones 10 feet deei) in gopher holes. It was very difficult to observe the 
moved loess which filled the hole, as all the hill was the same kind of deposit. 
But the Doctor assured me that this could not possibly be the case." 

Professor Blackman finishes by giving brief notes on several other finds which, 
may have bearing on the question of man's antiquity in Nebraska and the 
neighboring States. 

Toward the end of January, 1907, the writer was directed by the 
Chief of the Bureau of American Ethnology to visit the University 
of Nebraska and examine the Gilder Mound bones. The specimens 
were placed at the w^riter's disposal in the most liberal manner by 
Professors Barbour and Ward, and every needed assistance was 
accorded. When the examination was completed these gentlemen, as 
well as Mr. Oilder, accompanied him to the^mound, which, fortu- 
nately, Avas almost wholly free of snow and could be fairly well 
observed. In the following pages is given a brief account of the 
mound and its examination. 

I)esckiptu)n of the Mound 

North of the small town of Florence, and to the west of the Mis- 
souri, the countrv j)resents sonn* I'ather bold elevations, composed of 



hrdUcka] skeletal REMAINS 76 

accumulations of fine loess, modified in contour by the action of 
wind and rain. The southern portion of one of the most prominent 
of these elevations, known as Long's hill, consists (in the part nearer 
to Florence) of a ridge about GOO yards long, running parallel 
with the Missouri. This ridge is covered with timber of recent 
growth, the original forest having been cut by contractors for the 
Union Pacific railroad. Geologically the ridge is composed of car- 
boniferous strata forming the base, on which rest from 10 to 15 feet 
of glacial drift containing Sioux quartzite and granitic bowlders; 
above this is about 150 feet of fine li-ght-bufF loess (Barbour). A 
wagon road, which has been washed out until it forms quite a deep 
ravine, runs along the wdiole length of Ihe ridge, rising gradually to 
its crest. Near the southern end of this crest is seen a small eleva- 
tion, which might easily pass for a natural feature of the hill; its 
center originally could not have been more than 2 or ?> feet above the 
line of the crest, and, while its circular form is appreciable, its outer 
boundaries are so indistinct that measurements of its diameter can 
not be more than approximations. This is the Gilder mound. A 
few yards to the north is visible another low dune-like swell, pos- 
sibly also an artificial mound ; some years ago another low elevation, 
about 250 yards north of this, was dug into and yielded human bones, 
and about the same distance still farther in the same direction, three 
imperfect human skulls Avere found by Mr. Gilder in the west bank 
of the road, within less than 2 feet of the surface. 

The structure of the Gilder mound, which was examined so far 
as the partially frozen condition of the ground permitted, is as fol- 
lows: The whole knoll is covered to a depth of 10 inches with dark 
surface soil, Avhich contains roots and other vegetable matter. 
Beneath this is the loess, apparently entirely free from coarse mate- 
rial. The color of this deposit is deeper in its upper portion, fading- 
out gradually to the characteristic yellowish hue of the dry loess 
beneath. The darker color above is due in part to moisture, in part 
to a thin admixture of ashes and occasional minute bits of charcoal. 
The signs of fire are most noticeable toward the center of the mound, 
where they extend to a depth of nearly 8 feet. An effort was made 
to ascertain whether there is a bed of baked earth beneath the super- 
ficial layer, as reported by Mr. (lilder, but without success, on account 
of the frozen condition of the ground. It w^as plain, however, that 
at no point had the baking progressed so far as to render the earth 
impervious to water. No definite line of separation between the supe- 
rior and the inferior levels in the mound was observed, and there 
is no perceptible difference in the density or structure of the loess at 
different levels; in fact, the exposed surfaces, being everywhere 
smoothed by the shovel or trowel, showed no trace of structure what- 
ever. Two large rodent burrows, one running very deep, were 



76 BtTREAU Oi^ AMERICAN ETHiTOLOGY [bVll. &} 

exposed during the little digging that was done. There were found 
also several channels, left by the decay of roots, which passed deep 
down into the loess. One small phalanx and two slivers of bone 
were discovered in situ in the exposure previously made by Barbour, 
one of the slivers occurring at a depth of 5, the phalanx at nearly 
6, and the other sliver at a depth of 7^ feet from the surface. What 
were pointed to as excavations outside of the mound were difficult 
to distinguish as such, there being no lines of demarkation to indicate 
the limits of the mound. 

Examination or the Bones 

SKULL NO. 1 

A past-middle age, masculine, moderate sized, slightly asymmetric, but not 
pathological cranium, found by R. F. Gilder, about 3 feet deep in the Gilder 
mound. Large portions of the right side and of the base are wanting; part of 
the left side has been repaired, but warping prevented a good restoration. 

Color pale yellowish, agreeing with that of other specimens from the mound ; 
there are a few spots of slight black discoloration, such as are met with on 
many of the other specimens from this locality. There is no trace of fossiliza- 
tion, in fact the bones appear quite recent. 

The skull is nearly dolichocephalic. The angles of all the planes are 
rounded. The antero-posterior surface-arc is elliptical and shows no distinct 
summit. The supraorbital ridges are of approximately medium masculine pro- 
portions, and extend over but little more than the median half of each supra- 
orbital space. The forehead is not high, but presents a fairly well-marked 
vaulting ; the left side is slightly more anterior than the right. There is but 
little sagittal elevation. The temporal regions present no special features ; 
the temporal ridges are not prominent, and their nearest approach to the 
median line is 5.5 cm. on the right and 6.1 cm. on the left side. The occiput, 
moderately convex, shows a pronounced, but not excessive, superior crest, 
and marked depressions for the attachment of the smaller recti muscles ; the 
right side is slightly more prominent than the left. The right mastoid (left 
mastoid wanting) is of moderate masculine size. The glenoid foss?e, which 
are well preserved, are of ordinary form and good depth. The serration of 
the sutures approaches, especially in the lambdoid, about the medium form, 
as observed in whites. In the right half of the lambdoid are two small and 
two larger sutural bones. Obliteration has advanced externally in the coronal 
below the temporal ridges, and in the posterior half of the sagittal, with traces 
in the lambdoid ; ventrally the three sutures are wholly occluded, with the 
exception of small end portions of the lambdoid. The thickness of the left 
parietal ranges from 4 to 6 mm. 

A portion of the face, separated, shows an apparently mesorhynic nose, 
moderate alveolar prognathism, somewhat prominent malars, and well-marked 
submalar fossce. The lower jaw (somewhat damaged) is of moderate mascu- 
line size and massiveness, with chin slightly squarish and well protruding; 
diameter bigonial 10.5, vertical height at symphisis 3.3 cm. ; the angles show 
rather strong effects of muscular attachment. The teeth in both jaws are of 
medium size and, so far as can be seen, of ordinary form ; they are all much 
worn off. The enamel is everywhere of good luster and uucracked. Pn the 



HRDLifiKA] SKELETAL EEMAINS 77 

right side in the lower jaw may be noted the absence of one incisor, due 
apparently to nondevelopment ; on the left there are two incisors, both small. 
The third molars, now absent, must have been small : their cavities show a 
single root of rather submedium proportions. 

Measurements of slcuU nr>. 1 

• cm. 

Diameter antero-posterior maximum 18.9 

Breadth maximum, approximately 14.4 

Cephalic index, about 76 

Basion-bregma height, approximately 13.9 

Diameter bizygomatic maximum, approximately 1 14.3 

Circumference maximum, above supraorbital ridges 52.3 

Arc nasion-bregma, 13.2 ; bregma-lambda, 12.0 ; lambda-opisthion, 12.5 ; 
total antero-posterior arc 37. 7 

SKULL NO. 2 

A very defective adult specimen, found in Gilder mound, by Mr. Gilder, at a 
depth of about 3 feet ; sex uncertain, though probably female ; color dirty 
yellowish, ventrally and to a slight extent dorsally with spots of blackish dis- 
coloration ; no fossilization, no aspect of great antiquity; cranium of good size, 
normal ; shape oblong, contours rounded, outline of posterior plane approaching 
pentagonal ; supraorbital ridges above medium feminine, or submedium mascu- 
line, limited to median half of each supraorbital space. Forehead low but 
vault-bend distinct (above the bend the bone slopes backward) ; diameter 
maximum (along coronal suture), approximately 11.6 cm., nasion-bregma arc 
12.7 cm. No sagittal ridge. Thickness of left parietal 3 to 5 mm. Sutures 
(coronal, sagittal) patent, serration fair. No brain impressions ventrally. 

SKULL NO. 3 

A good-sized adult female cranium (defective) showing a slight asymmetry, 
otherwise normal. Discovered by Mr. Gilder in the mound now named after 
him ; exact depth of find uncertain, but probably not more than 4 feet. Color 
pale dirty yellowish ; no fossilization — has the appearance of a fairly recent 
specimen. Was apparently dolichocephalic ; greatest length 18.9 or 19 cm. 

The contours of the skull are but little angular. The supraorbital ridges are 
of about medium feminine size. The forehead is of moderate height and fairly 
good vaulting ; the right side is somewhat more prominent than the left. 
Diameter frontal minimum 8.6, frontal maximum 11.1 cm., nasion-bregma arc 
12.1. There is scarcely any sagittal elevation. The temporal ridges are but 
slightly marked and are distant from the median line. The glenoid^fosste are 
deep. A slight dehiscence, such as occurs quite frequently in the Indian, is 
seen in the floor of the left auditoiy meatus. All the remaining sutures are 
patent, serration submedium. Thickness of left parietal 4 to 5 mm. 

SKULL NO. 4 

Only the frontal and parts of the parietals remain. Found "deep'' (though 
less than 6 feet from the surface) in the mound by Mr. Gilder. It is appar- 
ently a good-sized adult normal male skull. Color dirty yellowish, with some 



78 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 33 

dark d scolorations, as on other specimens from this locality; there is no 
percept ble fossilization, the bones appearing quite recent. The skull is rather 
broad 'hough not brachycephalic. The supraorbital ridges are of submedium 
masculine size. The forehead is low and rather sloping, but the vault-bend is 
quite marked ; diameter frontal minimum 9.7, frontal maximum 12.1 cm., 
nasion-bregma arc near 13 cm. Temporal ridges not pronounced ; nearest 
approach to median line on the* right 5, on the left 4.8 cm. There is a slight 
sagittal elevation. The remaining sutures are all patent ; serration of coronal 
submedium, of sagittal about medium; a moderate-sized accessory bone exists 
on each side in the coronal, in the locality of the fetal antero-median fontanel. 
Ventrally the frontal bone everywhere shows good impressions of brain-convo- 
lutions. Thickness of left parietal (as far as preserved), 4 to G mm. 

This specimen bears on its surface marks of cutting — an interesting feature 
which occurs on many other bones from this mound. The incisions extend along 
the whole border of what remains of the right parietal and over 4 of that 
of the left parietal, running nearly parallel with the coronal suture. Numerous 
vertical cuts or markings on the left resemble very closely imitations of the 
articular surface of the frontal bone. Another evidence of cutting is seen on 
the anterior part of the specimen, w^here a portion of the right supraorbital 
ridge was thus removed. The incisions were all made with some sharp instru- 
ment, and the clear-cut edges and ridges produced are not perceptibly worn off. 

SKULL NO. 5 

Frontal part only. The forehead, which is quite low, shows two well-defined 
depressions M^hich mark it as abnormal, and on this account the specimen can 
not well be utilized for comparisons. 

SKULL NO. 6 

This specimen (plates x, &, xi, &; figures 12, 13, 15), which was dug out from 
the Gilder mound, at an estimated depth of 5 feet, by a farmer's boy named 
Joseph, is the cranium pictured in Professor Osborn's account and in the Bar- 
bour-Ward papers. It is a moderate-sized defective adult male normal cranium. 
Color pale yellowish, with black discoloration on the dorsal surface of the vault. 
No perceptible fossilization ; all the parts look quite recent and still retain con- 
siderable animal matter. 

The skull was apparently mesocephalic, with a cephalic index of about 79. 
The anterior plane shows a moderate sagittal elevation, the lateral and superior 
planes are ovoid with the smaller extremity anteriorly, and the posterior plane 
is pentagonal — forms all quite common among Indians. The supraorbital ridges 
are pronounced, about as in the Rock Bluff and the Albany Mound crania 
described in another part of this paper (see page 28 et seq.), and their distal 
extension aids in the formation of a complete, though not very heavy, supra- 
orbital arch. The forehead is qifite low and sloping, yet some vaulting and 
frontal bend are distinctly noticeable. The temporo-parietal region is somewhat 
fuller than in the other skulls from the mound, showing otherwise nothing 
unusual ; the temporal ridges are moderately marked and their nearest approach 
to the median line is 5 cm. on the right and 4 cm. on the left side. The occiput 
is not protruding ; it shows a prominent superior ridge and a separation of the 
supraoccipital ijart (epactal bone). The right mastoid is of about average mas- 
culine size. The ventral surface shows nothing peculiar. Thickness of left 
parietal 4 to 6.5 mm. 



hrdlicka] 



SKELETAL REMAINS 



79 



Above the foramen magnum, on the right side, the bone has been cut away 
to some extent with a sharp implement ; on the left the occipital squama in 
this locality is so damaged that the original presence or absence of incised 
marks can not be determined. 

A portion of the upper face and a lower jaw are said to have been found 
with this skull, but on account of the defects they can not be fitted. They 
agree with the skull in color and both look quite fresh. They show the 
presence of alveolar prognathism of a medium grade, such as occurs in general 
in the Indian. The nasal ap'erture was apparently mesorhynic ; its maximum 
breadth is 2.55 cm. The nasal spine is now but of fair length ; the borders 
of the nasal apertures are sharp. The submalar fossjie were of good depth. 
The height of the upper alveolar process in the median line is very moderate, 
amounting to only 1.7 cm., without perceptible atrophy. The palate was well 
formed ; maximum external breadth 6.4 cm. A bluish-black discoloration 




Fig. 12. — Antero-posterior arcs of skulls no. 8 and no. 6. No. 8 , no. 6. 



is seen on the left side of the maxilla. The lower jaw « has been recon- 
structed from several pieces, and unintentionally the separation of the rami 
has been increased. It is a normal specimen of moderate strength, and is a 
part of the same face to which belongs the above-described upper jaw ; it 
shows a square chin and quite prominent and pronounced effects of muscular 
attachment on the external surface of the angles. The vertical rami with 
their processes and notch present nothing unusual. The teeth of both jaws 
are of moderate size; all are much worn off; only two molars exist on the 
left side in the upper jaw (right side broken), and on the right side in the 
lower one. The dentine and enamel of all the remaining teeth are in perfect 
condition, the latter preserving its normal luster. There is absolutely no feature 
of inferior development about these specimens. 



" The lower jaw depicted in Professor Ward's paper, in Putnam's Magazine for .Jan- 
uary, 1907 (page 41,3), and marked "lower jaw of Nebi-aska skull no. 6," is a specimen 
different from the one here described ; it would seem that there must have been an 
error in assigning the Ward specimen to this skull. 



80 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 33 

Measurements of skull no. 6, with accompanying lower jaw 

Vault : cm. 

Diameter antero-posterior maximum 18.6 

Diameter lateral maximum, about 14.7 

Height medium. 

Diameter frontal minimum 8. 8 

Diameter frontal maximum ■ 11.65 

Nasion-bregma arc . ■- 11. 5 

Bregma-lambda are .- 11. 8 

Lower jaw : 

Vertical height in middle 3.4 

Length of right horizontal ramus 10.8 

Length of left horizontal ramus 10.5 

Height of right vertical ramus 6.8 

Least breadth of right vertical ramus 3. 75 

SKULL NO. 8 (plates x, <2, XI, a; figures 12, 14, 16) 

Discovered in 1894, at a depth of less than 5 feet, in Gilder mound, by Charles 
S. Huntington. A moderate-sized imperfect adult masculine cranium, recon- 
structed in the proper way and without distortion, from about a dozen frag- 
ments. The specimen shows a most interesting conformation but is in no way 
diseased or deformed. Color pale-yellowish to grayish, with some dark dis- 
coloration similar to that shown in patches by almost all the crania and many 
other bones from the same source. The dorsal surface of the vault shows a 
tendency to scaling, but there is no chalkiness of the bone, which has a firm 
structure and no perceptible trace of fossilization. 

The skull is mesocephalic, with length-breadth index of approximately 78. 
It is ovoid in shape, with the smaller end anteriorly, when viewed from the side 
or the top, while the outline of its posterior plane approaches the pentagonal. 
Its most striking and anthropologically interesting characteristics are a very 
deficient vaulting of the forehead and a large forestructure to the same, con- 
sisting of a pronounced supraorbital crest and ridges. In this respect it can 
best be described as neanderthaloid. It does not equal the well-known Neander- 
thal skull in its crest, ridges, and flat forehead, but approximates it quite closely. 
The supraorbital ridges and crest are so pronounced that along their whole 
length a well-marked depression exists between them and the forehead. There 
is no trace of frontal bosses and but little vaulting. The glabella lies in a 
depression 2.5 mm. deep between the excessive ridges. There are a slight 
metopic ridge and a little more pronounced sagittal elevation, terminating at 
the middle of the sagittal suture in a well-marked summit. The temporo- 
parietal regions, moderately convex, show nothing unusual. The temporal 
ridges, nowhere pronounced, are marked over the anterior half of the parietals 
by a depression ; their nearest approach to the median line on the right is 4.5 
em. (left?). The occiput shows medium convexity and a pronounced superior 
crest. The right mastoid is of rnther submedium male proportions. The 
sutures show submedium serration ; obliteration is visible externally in the 
posterior four-fifths of the sagittal, and in small spots along the lambdoid. 
The base is wholly lacking. Ventrally there is no special feature. Thickness 
of left parietal, 5 to 7 mm. 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



BULLETIN 33 PLATE X 





SKULLS FROM GILDER MOUND 
a Side view of skull no. 8; h side view of sij;ull no. 6 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



BULLETIN 33 PLATE XI 





SKULLS FROM GILDER MOUND 
a Top view of skull no. 8; b top view of skull no 6 



HRDLiCKA] SKELETAL REMAINS 81 

Measure incuts of skull no. 8 

cm. 

Diameter antero-posterior inaximuni 18.4 

Diameter lateral maximum 14. 8 to 14. 4 

Height, medium. 

Nasion-opistliion diameter 13. 3 

Diameter frontal minimum 9.0 

Diameter frontal maxinuun 11.3 

Circumference maximum, al)0ve supraorbital ridges, about 50.2 

Arc nasion-bregma. 12.7; bregma-lambda, 12.7; lambda-opisthion, 11.8; 
total nasion-oiiisthion 37. 2 

SKULL NO. X 

This is the skull of an approximately (>-.vear-old child, found by Mr. Gilder 
buried rather sui)erhcially in the Gilder mound. It is apparently quite recent, 
well developed, thin, and decidedly brachycephalic. A small portion of the 
occipital bone above the foramen magnum has been cut away in nearly a straight 
line, with some sharp instrument. The color of this specimen is brownish yellow, 
not radically different from that of other bones in the mound. 

FRONTAL BONE 

This specimen was recovered in two widely separated pieces from the Gil- 
der mound by Professor Barbour. It lay 4 feet below the surface. It is a por- 
tion of an adult, and apparently normal, male skull, of medium thickness. It 
shows moderate masculine ridges and glabella, and a quite well vaulted fore- 
head. Diameter frontal minimum, 9.G cm. Color agrees with that of other 
specimens from the mound. No fossil ization. 

LOWER JAW " 

Found in Gilder mound by Professor Barbour, at the depth of 4 feet. It is 
the jaw of a young subject (posterior molars not yet erupted) and shows in 
every way an ordinary Indian form. The chin is square, fairly prominent. 
The dental arch indicates moderate prognathism. The teeth were all lost after 
death except three of the molars, which are of moderate size and normal form ; 
the anterior molars show each five cusps ; the one median molar presents four, 
as usual in modern skulls. The enamel looks fresh. The bone shows no trace 
of fossil ization. 

The point of the left coronoid process had been cut off with some sharp 
instrument. 

PORTION OF LOWER JAW 

Found " deep " in the Gilder mound by Professor Barbour. The fragment 
consists of about two-thirds of the left horizontal ramus, without the chin or 
angle. The jaw was apparently masculine and rather strong, but, so far as 

"Pictured in Professor Barbour's paper in the Records of the Past, ii, pt. 2, 43, Feb- 
ruary, 1907. 

3453— No. 33—07 6^ 



82 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 33 

can be seen, in no way extraordinary. The teeth are of moderate size, much 
worn ; the mohirs show diminishing size from front to rear, as in recent skulls. 
The enamel is lusterless and cracked; the dentine is also cracked. The bono 
is not fossilized, but has the appearance of greater age than any of the other 
specimens. 

PORTION or LOWER JAW " 

Found in the Gilder mound by Professor Barbour at a depth of 5 feet. The 
only part remaining is the left vertical ramus. This is 5.7 cm. high, 3.55 cm. 
broad at its narrowest part, and but moderately thick ; it shows a notch of 
good depth and a feminine angle. There is no perceptible fossil ization. 

About 200 yards north of the eminence from which skulls nos. 1-8 
were recovered, another similar elevation on the ridge was dug into 
in 1894 by the Parker, Morris, and Huntington party; some human 
skulls and other bones were found here, but nothing was preserved. 
Still farther north, in the west bank of the wagon road that runs 
along the ridge, toward the end of 1906 Mr. Gilder found, not more 
than 2 feet below the surface, three defective female skulls. Two of 
these are apparently dolichocephalic, while one — the best preserved — 
is mesocephalic (cephalic index 79.3). These crania are all darker 
in color than the specimens from the Gilder mound — a fact which 
may be due to their more superficial position; the surfaces of all 
three show many minute pits and furrows, root-erosions. In skull 
no. X, the occipital squama above the foramen magnum has been cut 
away on each side of the median line, leaving two quite symmet- 
rical curved defective portions. This suggests the cutting in the 
Joseph skull (no. 6, Gilder mound) in the same location. 

HUMERI 

Five entire bones (of which two form a pair) and 12 pieces of distinct 
humeri, recovered from the mound by Mr. Gilder at various depths not ascer- 
tained. All show good, but not extraordinary, sizes and dimensions, and in 
flatness of the shaft, its shape, and in the frequency of perforation of the 
septum between the coronoid and the olecranon fossae, approximate closely 
the humeri of Indians. A rare feature in two of the specimens, although one 
not unknown in Indians, is the presence of ridges 3 and 4 mm. high, respec- 
tively, at the highest point, in the locality of the supracondyloid process. None 
of the bones show any trace of fossilization. On three of them are seen border 
scratches, cut-marks, or marks resulting from the gnawing of rodents — the 
scratches, smaller cuts, and teeth marks can not well be distinguished one from 
another. 

"Pictured in Professor Barbour's paper in the Records of the Past, ii, pt. 2, 45, Feb- 
ruary, 1907. 



hrdlickaJ 



SKELETAL EEMAINS 
Details 



83^ 



Specimens. 



a right , 
left . . . . 
right... 
left.... 
left - . . . 



Length. 


cm. 


34.8 


34.3 


34.5 


35.0 


33.2 


(?) 


(?) 


(?) 


(?) 


(?) 


^?) 


(?) 



Diameter 

lateral at 

middle 

(=A). 



cm. 
2.50 
2.25 
2.50 
2.15 
2.35 
2.25 
2.55 
2.05 
2.30 
2.25 
2.25 
2.35 



Diameter 
antero- 
posterior at 
middle 
(=B). 



cm. 
1.60 
1.65 
1.80 
1.55 
1.35 
1.45 
1.75 
1.50 
1.70 
. 1.50 
1.70 
1.65 



Index at 

middle 

(BxlOO). 



64.0 
73.3 
72.0 
72.1 
57.4 
64.4 
68.6 
73.2 
73.9 
66.7 
75.6 
70.2 



o Provisional designations; a and b belong to the same skeleton. 

Shajyes of shaft. Specimens a, h, and Q'=near prismatic (type 1).^ Specimens 
c and e=near lateral prism (type 2). Specimens d, g, j, o, p=near plano- 
convex, or plano-convex (type pc). In a, J), c, and e there is also a tendency 
toward the replacement of the anterior border by a fourth surface (type 4). 

Perforations 'between coronoid and olecranon fossce (in specimens where the 
lower end of the bone is preserved) : 



Humerus i=two small and one pin- 
point. 
Humerus 7j=large. 
Humerus ?==none. 
Humerus »i=none. 



Humerus a = none. 
Humerus 6=none. 
Humerus c=none. 
Humerus rf= large. 
Humerus enlarge. 
Humerus /^— small. 

Total, five (50 per cent) with and five without perforation. 

FRAGMENT OF A HUMERUS 

Found " deep " in the mound by Professor Barbour. Shape of shaft at mid- 
dle, nearly plano-convex ; diameter of antero-posterior at middle, 1.8 cm. ; 
diameter lateral, 2.5 cm. ; index, 72. Lower end lacking. No fossilization. 

FRAGMENT OF A RIGHT ULNA 



Found " deep " in the mound by Professor Barbour. An adult female bone, 
with prismatic shaft (type no. 1), in no way peculiar. No fossilization. Cuts 
on the interosseous border and anterior surface. 

* See Typical Forms of Shaft of Long Bones, Proceedings of the Association of Ameri- 
can Anatomists, 14th session, 55-60, Dec, 1900. 



84 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[bull. 38 



RADII 

Three whole good-sized adult normal radii (among which two are from, one 
subject), recovered from the mound at unrecorded depths, by Mr. Gilder; 
these show no unusual features. Lengths : a\ right, 27.8 ; a^, left, 27.4 ; b, left, 
23.3 cm: 

FEMORA 

Eight entire adult bones (in which there are three pairs), with nine pieces 
and three femora of small children, obtained from the mound by Mr. Gilder 
at various depths, not ascertained. Two of the whole bones (a pair c\ cr) 
show an abnormal curvature forward ; the rest are normal and indicate good 
stature and strength of the people. The general shape and the subtrochanteric 
flattening (platymery) of most of the bones indicate a close approximation to 
Indian femora. There is no fossilization. 

Details — Measurements 



Specimens. 



ai, right 

a2, left 

b^, right 

&2,left 

c^, right 

c2,left 

d, left, about 

e, right 

g, right 

7i,left 

J, left 

k, left 

I, left a 

m, left 



Length (bi- 
condylar). 



48.5 
48.4 
48.0 
48.3 
47.8 
48.4 
47.8 



') 

') 
(?) 
(?) 
(?) 

(?) 



46.1 



Subtrochanteric flattening. 



Greatest 
breadth (A). 



3.55 
3.65 
3.70 
3.50 
3.20 
3.20 
3.20 
3.05 
8.20 
3.10 
3.20 
3.40 
8.70 
3.55 



Smallest 
antero-poste- 
rior dimen- 
sion (B). 



2.55 
2.50 
2.65 
2.70 
2.60 
2.80 
2.55 
2.50 
2.25 
2.20 
2.40 
2.45 
2.30 
2.40 



Index 
(B X 100). 



71.8 
68.5 
71.6 
77.1 
81.2 
87.5 
79.7 
82.0 
70.3 
71.0 
75.0 
72.1 
62.2 
67.6 



" In two pieces ; one found by Gilder, November 1, 1906 ; the other, at a deeper level, 
November 7, 1906. 

SHAPES OF SHAFT 

In seven instances (a^, a\ Z>^ c", g, j, I) the shape is indieterminate ; in six 
(&S cS d, e, f, m) it is the prismatic (type no. 1) or approximate thereto; and 
in two (h, i) the shaft is nearly cylindrical. In c^ and <f is shown, as a com- 
pensation for the curvature, excessive linea aspera. 



TIBI^ 



Two entire adult bones (a pair) and ten pieces, obtained by Mr. Gilder 
from various levels (unnoted) in the mound. The bones are of good length 
and strong ; they show ordinary forms and only moderate inclination backward 
of the head. They approximate in general the tibiae of Indians without showing 



hrdlicka] 



SKELETAL REMAINS 



85 



-the excessive flattening met with in some parts of the country. Three of the 
bones (two of which belong to one skeleton) are diseased (probably syphilitic), 
and on three pieces with the head lacking are seen in the superior border 
(twice in the posterior part thereof) what are apparently cuts; some of these 
marks, however, resemble marks made by rodents' teeth. None of the specimens 
show any trace of fossilization and a few look quite fresh. 

Details — Measurements 



Specimen. 



ai, right 
a2, left. . 
6, left .. 

c, Tight . 
di, right 

e, right. 

f, right . 

g, right. 
i, left... 
J, left... 
A;, left... 



Length 
(minus 
spine). 



40.7 
41.0 



(?) 
(?) 
(?) 
(?) 
(?) 
(?) 
(?) 
(?) 
(?) 



Diameter. 



Antero-pos- 

terior at 
middlfe (A). 



3.50 
3.35 
3.50 
3.55 
3.50 
3.20 
3.50 
3.10 
3.00 
3.30 
3.40 



Lateral at 
middle (B). 



2.30 
2.20 
2.50 
2.90 
2.50 
2.60 
2.45 
2.25 
2.10 
2.30 
2.25 



Index at 
njiddle 
(BxlOO) 
A * 



65.7 
65.7 
71.4 
81.7 
71.4 
8L2 
70.0 
72.6 
70.0 
69.7 
66.2 



Shapes of the shaft. Six of the specimens (a\ a^ Z>, c, f, i) are of, or closely 
approximate to, the prismatic (type no. 1) ; three (d^;- j, k) show a tendency 
to rhomboidal form (type no. 4) ; in e the internal surface is hollowed out 
(tj^pe no. 3), and g shows a lack of differentiation of the external border. 

FIBULA 

One adult specimen, about 39.5 cm. long, of normal form and good strength, 
found in the mound by Mr. Gilder at a depth unnoted. No fossilization. 

A fragment of a fibula, dug out of the mound at an unknown depth, and 
given by Mr. Gilder to the writer, bears plain marks of cutting with both some 
sharp instrument and small rodents' teeth. 

SCAPULA 



Found by Professor Barbour in the Gilder mound at a depth of 4^ to 5 feet 
A defective left shoulder blade of moderate size and not unusual form. The 
thin body of the bone looks fresh, and. no part shows any fossilization. The 
superior border has been cleanly cut off along nearly its whole length close to 
the spine. 

RIBS 

Three pieces of ribs, found " deep " in the mound, of moderate proportions and 
ordinary form. No fossilization. On one of the specimens are seen marks 
which may have been made with a knife or by the teeth of rodents. 



86 BUKEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 33 

VERTEBRA 

Several dorsal and lumbar rertebrre belonging, apparently, to one body, found 
" deep " in the mound by Professor Barbour. The bones are of moderate dimen- 
'sions. The bodies of several of the vertebrae show asj-mmetry, while the twelfth 
dorsal presents, in addition, somewhat peculiar lateral processes, a deviation of 
the spinous process to the left, and a plain trace of a formerly existing separa- 
tion of the left lamella from the base of this process, conditions all pointing to 
disturbance in ossification of this spine. None of the bones show any 
fossilization. 

SACRUM 

Found " deep " in the mound by Professor Barbour. The bone is composed 
of five segments and shows normal size and form, with moderate curvature. 
Height, 11.5 cm. ; maximum breadth, about 11.4 cm. No fossilization. 

PELVES 

Two adult male pelves, found in the mound by Mr. Gilder ; depth not recorded. 
The" specimens in every respect are normally developed, and approximate in form 
the pelvis of the Indian. One, accompanied by several of the lumbar vertebrae, 
shows some senile marginal exostoses, such as are common in aged whites and 
occur also in old Indians. 

Pelvis a, somewhat defective ; is strongly built. Diameter external maximum 
(bi-iliac), 31.4 cm. ; height maximum, about 22.7 cm. ; greatest breadth of right 
ilium, 17.1 cm. ; of left ilium, 17 cm. ; greatest transverse diameter of the 
superior strait. 16.8 cm. The sacrum consists of five segments, but the last 
lumbar shows on the left side a tendency to assimilation ; curvature medium ; 
height, 11.1 cm.; greatest breadth, 12.9 cm. 

Pelvis 1), defective; shows bones of moderate strength. Greatest height of 
right OS innominatum, 22.9 cm. ; greatest breadth, 16.7 cm. Sacrum damaged ; 
curvature moderate ; was composed, apparently, of six segments. Neural canal 
shows posteriorly throughout its height a defect, due to imperfection of the 
neural arches of the vertebr(e composing the bone. 

OS CALCIS 

Found " deep " in the mound. Form quite ordinary. No fossilization. 
Greatest length, 7.8 cm. ; height at middle. 4.25 cm. ; smallest breadth at middle, 
3.15 cm. 

PHALANGES 

Several phalanges and pieces thereof from " deep " in the mound. The 
bones are of moderate size and show no special features. Some of the slivers 
look very fresh. 

LONG BONES OF A CHILD LESS THAN A YEAR OLD 

Found " deep " in the mound by Professor Barbour. The bones are slender, 
but normal ; the right femur measures, minus epiphyses, 10.7 cm. The bones 
look quite fresh, and certainlj' retain a good proportion of animal matter. The 
ends of the apophyses, except where broken off, show the delicate cancellous 
tissue in a perfect state of preservation. 



hrdlicka] skeletal kemains 87 

Discussion 

The examination of the human remains from the Gilder mound 
being concluded and their somatological characters described in 
detail, it is now necessary to consider the question of their probable 
relations to the geological formation with which they were associated 
and the bearing of these relations on the question of antiquity. 

It is not questioned that the various explorations have been intel- 
ligently conducted and that sincere effort has been made to ascertain 
and promulgate the entire truth regarding the finds, but if the pres- 
ent knowledge concerning these specimens is impartially considered, 
it is apparent that the theory of a more than recent geological origin 
of any of them meets with serious objections, while, on the other 
hand, no insurmountable obstacle appears in connection w^ith the 
assumption that all are comparatively recent. If the existence of 
geologically ancient man in any part of this country is to be generally 
accepted, the evidence should be free from serious doubts and uncer- 
tainties. That this condition is not fulfilled in the present case will 
become manifest when due weight is given to the following consid- 
erations : 

(«) Within a depth of 5 feet or less, the Gilder mound contained 
the remains of apparently about a dozen bodies. There were male 
and female skeletons, ranging in age from the infant to the senile 
subject. Two or three of the skulls, with some accompanying bones, 
lay within 2J feet or less of the surface. Below this, according to 
the explicit statements of Mr. Gilder, was a layer of clay of undeter- 
mined area, hardened by fire." This is an occasional feature in 
burial mounds of this general region,^ the purpose of the baking being 
possibly to protect the bodies from animals which otherwise might 
prey on them. Beneath this cover of hardened earth lay in some pro- 
miscuity, but in numerous instances- in partial natural association, the 
skeletal remains of eight or nine bodies.^ At still lower levels, 
down to the depth of 11 J feet, were found here and there pieces of 
human bones. Instances of anatomical association extended to the 

« A small piece of clay secured by Mr. Gilder and recently sent for examination to 
the writer by Professor Barbour, shows unmistakable signs of partial burning. Portions 
of the piece are of the color and nearly of the consistency of a light-burned brick. A 
sample of this nature, while not conclusive proof of an extended fire-hardened layer, is 
nevertheless confirmatoi'y of Mr. Gilder's earlier statements as to the existence of such a 
layer. 

''See Cyrus Thomas, . Report on the Mound Exploration of the Bureau of Ethnology, 
Ttcelfth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, Washington, 1894 ; and 
Frederick Starr, Summary of the Archeology of Iowa (with Bibliography of lowan 
Antiquities), Proceedings of the Davenport Academy of Sciences, vi, 1895. 

•^According to information received from Professor* harbour March 5, a block of loess 
which was taken to the laboratory in its entirety, showed parts of another skeleton. 
The bones began at 4 feet 9 inches from the surface and extended down to 6 feet, several 
of them plainly showing anatomical association. 



88 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bi-ll. 33 

depth of 6 or (S^ feet. Below this everything was disconnected and 
fragmentary. 

NoAv, ordinarily, the interpretation of these facts would be quite 
simple, as the conditions observed are in general characteristic of the 
ordinary low mound of the region. Some of the bodies seem to have 
been buried immediately after death; others, after having been ex- 
posed to the elements on scaffolds, or otherwise treated. Later 
burials by the same or other peoples ajopear to have been made about 
the margins of the mound and also above the hardened clay. In the 
writer's view it is impossible that the nine or more bodies beneath 
the fire-hardened clay should have drifted into that position at any 
time or that they should have come there in any manner other than 
as direct burials; and it is highly probable that, were it not for the 
large supraorbital ridges and low foreheads of some of the crania, 
the question of geological antiquity would never have been raised 
Avith respect to any of these remains. 

There is nothing in the conditions connected with the bones which 
came from the levels between 2^ and 6 feet to suggest particular 
antiquity. The depth at which they were found is in no wa}^ excep- 
tional; in fact, this depth is quite the rule in low mounds. The 
absence of surface soil of darker color is not remarkable, since, 
except where charcoal is present, the color resulting from decay of 
vegetal matter soon disappears through chemical changes and leach- 
ing. The presence in the neighborhood of the bones of small pebbles 
and fossil shells would be natural, if these objects existed originally in 
the loess of the locality, for no one burying a bod}^ Avould sift the earth 
with which to cover it. The baking of the earth over the bodies was 
not accidental, for the signs of fire diminished toward the periphery of 
the mound, and, besides, as already stated, it was not a rare practice 
of the aborigines of the Missouri valley to bake the surface of 
burial mounds. It is likewise evident that this baking can not be 
attributed to the people who buried the two or three bodies above it ; 
the}'' would hardl}^ have chosen a spot over a deposit of human bones 
belonging to a previous geological age and then, after baking the 
earth immediately covering the deposit, have buried their own dead 
on this floor, carrying to the place 2J feet of earth for the purpose 
of covering the bodies. It is more reasonable to suppose that these 
people resorted to a regular burial mound of their own or of another 
comparatively recent tribe. 

Besides the skeletal parts, which maintained more or less their 
natural relation, there were found at deeper levels in the mound, 
and possibly a little outside of it, human bones in small pieces. 
These fragments Avere scattered and comparatively few in number — 
not more than " one bit of bone " to 5 or G cubic feet of earth. The 
fragmentary character of these bones and their wide dispersal 



HEDUCKA] SKELETAL REMAINS 89 

through the formation have been regarded as evidence that they 
were deposited contemporaneously with that formation (loess) and, 
hence, that they are of great age, antedating the shaping of the hill 
itself. Right here, however, we are confronted with a perplexing 
dilemma. If these fragments found more than 6 feet below the 
surface are admitted to proceed from the remains deposited above 
the 6-foot level and just below the baked earth — the remains of 
jDeople of the low foreheads, we must then abandon the assumption 
that they are as ancient as the deposits of loess immediately about 
them, and also the idea that these deposits have remained undisturbed 
since their formation. On the other hand, should the fragments be 
regarded as distinct in origin from the skeletons found between the 
2-J-foot and 6-foot levels, as they must be if the formations have re- 
mained undisturbed, the problem takes on a new phase, and we must 
account for several distinct deposits of human remains within or 
beneath the mound. In that case the inferior type of some of the 
skulls from the layer just below the baked earth can have no bearing 
on the antiquity of the fragments deeper down. Furthermore, the 
higher fragments found beneath the 6-foot level could scarcely then 
be regarded as of the same origin as the lower ones, for the reason 
that the distance between these two groups of pieces is far greater 
than that between the higher-lying fragments and the superimposed 
skeletons. 

The fact that the bones between the 2^-foot and 6-foC)t levels were 
mixed and broken and parts were missing may be difficult to explain, 
but similar conditions are common in mound burials as well as in other 
burials, and are especially to be expected where the excavation has 
not been conducted from the beginning with the utmost care. Inequal- 
ities in decay, natural movements of the earth, the burrowing and 
direct dragging by rodents, the penetration of roots, and occasional 
unrecorded disturbances of the soil produce remarkable results of 
this nature. Whole limbs, or the entire head, and sometimes a large 
part of the body, may thus disappear, or the remains may be 
broken, teeth lost, and the bones scattered. There must have been a 
similar occurrence even with the uppermost or intrusive burials, for of 
one of the bodies, that of a child, which is regarded as the most recent, 
there is only the incomplete skull, while but little more was found of 
the other two bodies inhumed above the fire-hardened earth. The 
fact that there is no break or horizon of separation in the deposits 
between the bones of the principal deposit and those below, and that 
larger fragments were discovered onl}^ in the proximity of these 
main burials, speaks much for the common origin of all the specimens 
under consideration. That some slivers could have been so displaced 
as to lie actually beyond the limits of the mound does not seem 
improbable. 



90 BUKEAU or AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 33 

(b) Observing "the condition of the. bones, it is noted that the color, 
surface markings, consistency, discolorations, and other characteris- 
tics are much the same at all levels; the differences are no greater 
than those observed in the different parts of a single skull or in 
specimens in immediate proximity to one another. Such could 
hardly be the case if some of the bones were thousands of years more 
ancient than others. The chemical action of the soil, coupled with 
that of organic elements within it, on human bones in some instances 
may be A^ery slight, yet it is incredible that no marked differences 
should be perceptible in the effects of these agencies on bones of the 
Glacial or the immediateh^ post-Glacial period and those of recent 
centuries. 

This brings us directly to the very important concurrent fact of 
the total absence from any of the bones of perceptible fossilization. 
Such a condition would be hard to explain in bones dating from the 
period of the original loess deposit and under the circumstances in 
which the specimens in question were found. It is true that minor 
grades of mineralization, Avhich may be difficult of detection, occur in 
rare instances in certain pleistocene sands or in perpetually dry cave 
deposits, but the fine Nebraska loess presents different conditions. 
The fire-hardening at one of the higher levels in the mound was not 
sufficient to keep out moisture and air, whose presence facilitates 
ph3^sical and chemical changes in inclosed bones. At the time of our 
visit to the locality in January the earth was found to be frozen at a 
level loAver than the baked layer. To overcome this difficulty of 
absence of perceptible mineral replacement, and even of infiltration 
of the specimens, those who would prove that the deeper-lying bones 
from the Gilder mound are geologically ancient should produce satis- 
factory specimens of bones, unquestionabl}^ ancient A^et nonfossilized, 
from deposits of the same nature and existing under the same con- 
ditions. 

Only one piece, the fragment of a lower jaw, shows changes such 
as could have been produced by exposure to the elements, even for 
a moderate length of time. On none of the other bones do we find 
tlie easily recognizable results of bleaching or cracking caused by 
exposure to the sun, or of superficial abrasion that could be attrib- 
uted to Avater action. The etching or pitting of the surface obserA^d 
in some of the bones is due to the action of minute roots or to corro- 
sion by chemical agencies in the soil or in percolating Avaters. 
These features are common to bones embedded for even short periods 
in various soils. 

(c) Numerous bones from the different leA^els show marks due to 
the gnawing of rodents and also cuts made by some sharp implement 
Avielded by human hands. The tooth marks indicate that at some 



HRDLiCKA] SKELETAL KEMAINS 91 

time rodents did have access to these pieces, and as none of the speci- 
mens thus marked show weathering, they must have been reached by 
animals burrowing in the mound.^ The smaller fragments of bones 
would thus certainly be dragged and displaced, and it is very likely 
that some of them would eventually come to rest at much lower 
leA^els than before. The results of the caving in of the burrows, 
especially of the spacious chambers characteristic of ^ the dwellings 
of certain rodents, must also be considered in this connection. The 
depth the bits of bone could thus reach would be limited only by the 
depth of the burrowing, and that this may have reached in the fine 
loess 11^ feet, or even more, will not be denied. It is apparent that 
this agency is sufficient to account for the presence of some, if not 
of all, of the smaller bones at the lower levels. 

{d) The presence of knife marks on a number of the bones has an 
important bearing on the question of relationship of the bones of 
different layers to one another. These marks are seen, as has been 
noted, on bones from the more superficial as well as on some from 
the deeper layers. They are of similar character, occurring mostly 
on the edges or margins of the bones and in nearly all cases are 
restricted to the long bones and to the skull. Their similar location 
on the skull — namely, in the rear of the foramen magnum — indicates 
an identity of custom such as might develop, for instance, in the 
not unusual practice of cleaning the bones before secondary burial. 
This peculiar cutting is seen on skull no. 6, which is described as 
representing the ancient loess man, as well as on the child's skull, 
which is regarded as the most recent, belonging to the topmost layers 
above the baked earth, and also on one of the female skulls taken out 
near the surface in the bank of the road. The advocates of great 
antiquity will need to explain these coincidences. It is difficult to 
imagine peoples, ages apart and in a locality subject, doubtless, to 
changes of population, engaging in exactly the same very peculiar 
and unusual practice of whittling away a particular portion of the 
occipital.^ 

" On March 14 the writer received from Professor Barbour several teeth, found v^ith 
a crushed skull in one of the blocks of " undisturbed " loess containing pieces of human 
bones, at the depth of 5^ feet. All these teeth were identified, with the .aid of Dr. M. W. 
Lyon, of the division of mammals, U. S. National Museum, as those of Geomys hursarius , 
or the common modern pocket gopher. See in this connection Professor Blackman's 
statement on p. 74. 

'' Superficial cutting is present also, as described in another part of this paper, on the 
left side of the vault of the Rock Bluff skull, from Illinois. Besides this instance, the 
writer found practically identical cuttings in the occipital, back of the foramen magnum, 
in the National Museum skull no. 243017, from a mound at the mouth of the Ulinois river 
(shows also cuts about the orbits) ; and in nos. 225252, 228876, 228877, 228878, 228880, 
228881, 228882, 243223, and 243238, parts of Professor Montgomery's collection, from 
mounds in North Dakota. None of these specimens have any claim to geological 
antiquity. Some of the mounds explored by- Professor Montgomery and from which the 
above skulls are derived showed also the peculiarity of baked earth above the remains of 
the skeletons. 



92 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 33 

No animal bones of any kind have been found in the excavation, 
unless they are represented by one specimen which does not resemble 
a normal human bone, but may be the proximal half of a human 
clavicle,* pathologically altered. What Avere mentioned in one of the 
recent publications relating to these finds as " presumably the bones 
of a young wolf, with epiphyses wanting," are the long bones of a 
very young child. 

(e) The principal support for the notion of the great antiquity 
of the deeper-lying remains from the Gilder mound is the low type 
of several of the skulls, especially those numbered 6 and 8. The 
particular features indicative of low type are a remarkably low 
forehead and pronounced supraorbital ridges. The size of the crania, 
as indicated by their external measurements, their form in general, 
as well as in particular parts, and the thickness of their walls, show 
considerable uniformity among themselves and present no excep- 
tional features when compared w^ith those of Indians. Notwithstand- 
ing the low foreheads, the skulls do not impress one as those of 
idiots or imbeciles, although the possibility that one or more of then\ 
are remains of such defectives can not be excluded. Imbecility occurs 
among probably all peoples. The writer is inclined to regard these 
low-browed crania as examples of individual peculiarities. Their 
special features, which are really exaggerations of definite sexual 
characters, may indicate degeneration or they may possibly be rever- 
sions. The fact that several of the same type are found in one 
locality Avill be readily understood by those acquainted with the 
IDrinciples of heredity; besides, it Avill be remembered that only one 
of the skulls shows the inferior features in a very pronounced form. 
Exceptional cases of this nature are knoAvn to occur among all 
peoples Avith AAhich we are acquainted; they are met Avith even 
among civilized AAdiites. Skulls Avith low foreheads and pronounced 
ridges certainly do occur among the Indians, and it is A^-ery suggest- 
iA^e that the majority of the crania of this type thus far obserA^ed 
have been discovered in mounds of the general region in which are 
located the present finds. This region extends, so far as Ave may 
noAv judge, oA^er portions of Illinois, loAva, and Wisconsin, reaching 
the Dakotas, and the burials from AA-hich they are derived have no 
claim to geological antiquity. The better-known instances of these 
finds are as follows: 

In The American Naturalist (xxiii, 185-188, 1889), Clement L. 
Webster reports in brief on the exploration of ancient mounds at 
Floyd, loAva.^ The mounds Avere three in number and were sit- 

« Another exception is the poclset-gopher teeth mentioned in the footnote on p. 91. 

''Abstracts of this, as well as of the following- Webster paper, may l)e found in 
F. Starr's Summary of the Archeology of Iowa, Proceedings of the Davenport Academy 
of Sciences, vi, 64, 78, 1895. 



HRDLicKA] SKELETAL REMAINS 98 

uated on the west side of Cedar river. In the largest of these mounds 
(circular in form and about 30 feet in diameter, but only 2 feet high) 
were found, at a depth of a little more than 5 feet from the surface, 
the well-preserved remains of five bodies. This mound showed 
several peculiarities, among which were a layer of 'jarth mixed with 
ashes, some distance above the bodies, and a baking of the remaining 
earth above these ashes. One of the skeletons was that of an 
" average-sized woman in middle life," one of an infant, one of a 
large aged man, and two of young adults, sex undetermined. The 
bones of the woman (?) " indicated a person of low grade, the 
evidences of unusual muscular development being strongly marked.'^ 
The skull of this personage was a w^onder to behold, equaling, if 
not rivaling in some respects, in inferiority of grade, the famous 
'Neanderthal skull.' The forehead (if forehead it could be called) 
is very low, lower and more animal-like than in the ' Neanderthal ' 
specimen. This skull is quite small for an adult individual." 

Later in the same year and in the same journal (pages 650-655) Mr. 
Webster reports on excavations in the mounds near Old Chickasaw, 
Iowa, on the west side of Little Cedar river. All these mounds were 
" circular, with oval tops, and with a diameter varying from 22 to 
51 feet, and a height of from If to 5 feet." In the center of the 
first mound examined three human skeletons were found. Above 
them were 1^ feet of mixture of earth and ashes, made very hard, 
with a few small pieces of charcoal scattered through it. The 
remaining 3J feet of material composing the mound was a yellow, 
clayey soil, unlike anything found on the surface in the vicinity. 
" The crania of all three individuals showed an extremely low grade 
of mental development ; the foreheads being, in one case, even lower 
than in the specimen found in the Floyd mound." " The upper 
anterior j)ortion (back of the eyes) of one of the crania under con- 
sideration was quite narrow, but expanded rather rapidly postero- 
laterally." The frontal bone " sloped abruptly backward, forming 
a slightly concave area back of and above the eyes." The largest of 
the three skulls measured 6 J by 5 inches (15.8 by 12.7 cm.).^ "No 
relics of any description were found with the bodies exhumed," 
including those from neighboring mounds.^ 

Another group of low-browed, inferior-type crania was dealt with 
in a previous chapter of this paper. They are the specimens from 
along Illinois river, including the Kock Bluff skull (plate ii, a)^ the 

« It is quite evident that an error has been made in the sex identification, and that the 
skeleton was that of a man. 

^ Nothing is stated as to how these measurements were taken. 

'' The illustrations accompanying the two accounts of Mr. Webster can scarcely be 
regarded otherwise than as overdrawn, but the description points clearly to low-type 
crania. The specimens are still in the possession of Mr. Webster, at Charles City, Iowa, 
but a personal request that they be sent to the writer for examination, or that they be 
photographed for his use, brought no answer. 



94 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[bull. 33 



Alban}^ (Illinois) Mound skull, no. 3, in the Davenport Academy of 
Sciences, which the writer was able to examine on his return from 
Nebraska, and the other Albany Mound skull, no. 242982, of the U. S. 




P"'iG. 3 3. — Antero-posterior arcs of skulls no. 4402, Davenport Academy of Sciences, and 
no. 6, Gilder mound. No. 4402, ; no. 6, 




Fig. 14. — Antero-posterior arcs of skulls no. 4402, Davenport Academy of Sciences, and 
no. 8, Gilder mound. No. 4402, — — ; no. 8, 

National Museum. To the foregoing may be added another remarkable 
low-order specimen, namely, no. 4402, in the Davenport Academy of 
Sciences, from mound 1, near Albany, Illinois. The accompanying 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



BULLETIN 33 PLATE XII 





SKULLS WITH LOW FOREHEADS 

a Side view of Illinois mound-builder skull (no. 4402, Davenport Academy of Sciences); 
b side view of modern Sioux skull (Davenport Academy of Sciences) 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



BULLETIN 33 PLATE XIII 





MOUND-BUILDER SKULLS (DAVENPORT ACADEMY OF SCIENCES) 

a Side view of skull from Illinois (no. 4401, Davenport Academy); b side view of 

southern skull 



hrdlicka] 



SKELETAL EEMAINS 



95 



illustrations (plates xii, a, xiii, a; figures 13-16) will show better 
than additional words could the t3^pe of these crania and their rela- 
tion to the specimens from- the mound in Nebraska. 




Fig. 15. — Antero-posterior arcs of skulls no. 242982, U. S. National Museum, and no. 6, 
Gilder mound. No. 242982, ; no. 6, 




Fig. 16. — Antero-posterior arcs of skulls no. 242982, U. S. National Museum, and no. 8, 
Gilder mound. No. 242982, ; no. 8, 

Still other specimens of low-type Indian crania may be adduced 
in this connection. Low forehead, or the absence of the frontal 
vaulting, occurs in rare instances — mainly in consequence of an appar- 
ently natural increase in volume of such sexual characteristics as the 
supraorbital ridges — in males among even the other class of mound 



96 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 83 

skulls, namely, the brachycephals of Arkansas and farther south, 
and also among the skulls of recent Indians. Two such speci- 
mens, both from the Davenport Academy collection, are. the 
first, a normal, undeformed, Arkansas mound skull (plate xiii, h) 
and the other a skull of a modern Sioux (plate xii, h), who died as a 
captive near Davenport. A recent examination of the great cranial 
collection in the U. S. National Museum showed the j)resence of the 
following additional skulls with remarkably low foreheads : 

Catalogue 
numbers 

From Indian burials in California 22517G, 241111, 

241912, 241916, 241927, 241939, 241998, 242009, 242014, 242148, 242200 

From mounds in North Dakota 228876, 228878 

From a mound in Florida 16333 

From a mound in Illinois 186778 

From a mound in Illinois 242989 

From a mound near Alton, Illinois 243007 

From a mound in Orange county, Indiana 243855 

From a mound near Sculleyville, Iowa 225296 

From a mound at Eagle Point, Iowa 243845 

From a mound at Albany, Iowa 243847 

A Kaw, Kansas 243544 

From a burial at Choptank, Maryland 243933 

From a burial in Missouri 218993 

A Piegan, Montana ! 243673 

From a burial at Durango, New Mexico 243275 

From a burial at Pistol river, Oregon 243602 

From a burial at Pistol river, Oregon 243603 

A Paiute, Nevada 243817 

A Pawnee, Kansas 243531 

A Ponca, Kansas 225097 

A Sioux, Dakota 225238 

A Sioux, Dakota 243710 

A Ute, Utah 226084 

From a burial at Bagley, Wisconsin 207874 

From a burial in Wisconsin 243290 

In most of these cases the lowness of the forehead and often also 
the volume of the ridges equal those of skull no. 6 from Long's hill, 
and in several instances they exceed this specimen in these particular 
characters; no. 136778 shows even a lower forehead than the Gilder 
Mound skull, known as no. 8 (plates x, a, xi, a; figures 12, 14, 16). 

It is thus seen that the Gilder mound skulls are by no means unique 
in their low^-order form, and that no definite conclusion as to their 
antiquity can be based on this inferiority or peculiarity of type 
alone. The occasional and apparently nonpathological occurrence 
of such forms in the males, particularly among the mesocephalic to 
dolichocephalic ethnic element « of the upper Missouri and Missis- 

« Suggesting in many ways tlie Californians ; compare tlie writer's Contribution to 
the Pliysical Antiiropoiogy of California, University of California Publications, American 
Archeology and Ethnology, iv, no. 2, Berlceley, 1906. 



hrdliCka] skeletal REMAINS 97 

sippi, burying its dead in low circular mounds, the upper layers of 
which in numerous cases were hardened b}" fire, offers one of the most 
interesting problems to American anthropologists, largely because 
everything points to the fact that these low cranial shapes are com- 
paratively recent phenomena and not occurrences of geological antiq- 
uity. Additional systematic exploration on a large scale of the 
mounds in the Central states is very much to be desired in this 
connection. 

(/) The size of the Nebraska skulls and the thickness of bone (see 
detailed examination) are in no way exceptional Avhen compared 
with similar dimensions in skulls of Indians. The thickness of the 
parietal bone exceeded in no case at its maximum 7 mm. and was 
mostly a little below this. Professor Barbour in his paper in the 
Records of the Past mentions that the wall of one of the broken 
skulls measured 9 mm. in thickness, but this measurement must have 
been taken on a bone other than the parietal. Xone of the fragments 
of the latter bone that passed under the writer^s observation approxi- 
mated such a dimension ; but even if a very thick skull had coexisted 
with the others, the fact would justif}^ no conclusion concerning the 
antiquity of the specimen. Thick Indian crania of a very moderate 
antiquit}' are very common in Florida and certain parts of Mexico, 
and occur also in other parts of the country. 

{g) .The long bones recovered from the mound show absolutely 
no type differences or racial distinction at the different levels, and 
in many of their characteristics approximate so closely to the cor- 
responding bones in the Indian that their identification as Indian 
is permissible. Of particular value for this identification are the 
thickness and shape at the middle of the humeri,^ and here is found 
the slight relatite thickness of the bone as well as the predomi- 
nance of the plano-convex shape, both characteristic of the Indian. 
The platymery of the -femora points in the same direction. The 
tibiae are stronger and less platycnemic than on an average in the 
Indian, but were by no means unequaled among the Plains Indians 
who lived largely by the chase. The stature of the group of people 
represented in the Gilder mound, estimated from the long bones, 
was nearly 6 feet in the males, which is not uncommon also among 
the Sioux and other of the Plains hunters. Examination of the parts 
of the skeleton besides the skull furnishes substantial evidence that 
the bones have in general much more affinity with those of the Indian 
than with those of any other people. Speculation as to what par- 
ticular tribe of Indians this group belonged would probably be 
fruitless, and is really not of great importance. The Omaha, it is 

" A monograph showing in detail the pronounced differences in these bones between the 
white, negro, and Indian races is under preparation by the writer. 

3453— No. 33—07 7 



98 ' BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 33 

Avell known, were a comparatively recent arrival in that country. 
They may have been preceded in the region along the Missouri north 
of Omaha by the Mandan, the Pawnee, or the Arikara, or possibly 
by some offshoot of the Sioux. East of this region were the Oto and 
the loAva, while little-known tribes of the Algonquian confederacy 
Avere settled in what is now the state of Illinois.'^ 

(h) Besides all preceding considerations, it should be remembered 
that the ridge of Long's hill contained also at least one other mound 
which yielded human bones, and still another aboriginal burial. 
Such high places w^ere the favorite locations for burials w^ith the 
Indians on both sides of the Missouri, and it appears probable that 
the Gilder mound belongs simply to this category of Indian mortuar}^ 
structures. 

XVIII.— GENEEAL CONCLUSION 

The various finds of human remains in North America for which 
geological antiquity has been claimed have been thus briefly passed 
under revicAV. It is seen that, irrespective of other considerations, in 
every instance where enough of the bones is preserved for compari- 
son the somatological evidence bears Avitness against the geological 
antiquity of the remains and for their close affinity to or identity 
Avith those of the modern Indian. Under these circumstances but 
one conclusion is justified, which is that thus far on this continent 
no human bones of undisputed geological antiquity are known.* This 
must not be regarded as equiA-alent to a declaration that there Avas 
no early man in this country; it means only that if early man did 
exist in North America, convincing proof of the fact from the stand- 
point of pliA^sical anthropology still remains to be produced. 

Referring particularly to the Nebraska " loess man," the mind 
searches in A^ain for solid ground on AA'hich to base an estimate of 
more than moderate antiquity for the Gilder Mound specimens. The 
evidence as a Avhole only strengthens the above conclusion that the 
existence on this continent of a man of distinctly primitive type and 
of exceptional geological antiquity has not as yet been proved. 

There maA^ be discouragement in these repeated failures to obtain 
satisfactory evidence of man's antiquity in America, but there is in 
this also a stimulus to rencAA^ed, patient, careful, scientifically con- 
ducted and checked exploration ; and, as Professor Barbour says in 
one of his papers on the Nebraska find, '' the end to be attained is 
worth the energy to be expended." A satisfactory demonstration 
of the presence of a geologically ancient man on this continent 
would form an important link in the history of the American race, 
and of mankind in general. The Missouri and Mississippi drainage 
areas offer exceptional opportunities for the discoA^er}^ of this link of 
humanity if such really exists. 

" See Bulletin SO of the Bureau of American Ethnology, pt. 1, 1007. 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



BULLETIN 33 PLATE XIV 





SKULL FROM MOUND IN NORTH DAKOTA (U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM NO. 228876) 

a Side view; b top view 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



BULLETIN 33 PLATE XV 





SKULL OF PIEGAN FROM MONTANA (U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM NO. 243673) 
a Side view: b top view 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 






BULLETIN 33 


PLATE XVI 




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SKULL FROM MOUND NEAR BROWNING, SCHUYLER COUNTY, ILLINOIS (U. S. NATIONAL 

MUSEUM NO. 136778) 

a Side view; h top view 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



BULLETIN 33 PLATE XVII 





SKULLS WITH LOW FOREHEADS 

a Side view of skull from mound near Alton. Illinois ( U. S. National Museum no. 242982); 
b side view of skull of Paiute, Nevada (U. S. National Museum no. 243817) 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



BULLETIN 33 PLATE XVIIl 





SKULLS WITH LOW FOREHEADS, FROM CALIFORNIA 

a Side view of skull from Calaveras county (U. S. National Museum no. 225173); h side 
view of skull from Santa Barbara county (U. S. National Museum no. 241912) 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



BULLETIN 33 PLATE XiX 



.r 





SKULL FROM SANTA CRUZ ISLAND, CALIFORNIA (U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM NO. 241927) 

a Side view; h top view 



I 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



BULLETIN 33 PLATE XX 




a 




SKULLS WITH LOW FOREHEADS 



a Side view of skull from Santa Cruz island, California (U. S. National Museum no. 241916); 
h side view of skull from mound near Bagley, Wisconsin (U. S. National Museum no. 207874) 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



BULLETIN 33 PLATE XXI 











•^. ' nfi- 




SKULL FROM MOUND IN ORANGE COUNTY, INDIANA ' U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM NO. 243855J 

a Side view; b top view 



I 



XIX.— APPENDIX 

Recent Indian Skulls of Low Type in the U. S. National 

Museum 

The preceding paper shows that in numerous cases great w^eight has 
been given to the low and sloping forehead, especially when accom- 
panied by heav}^ brows, as an index of low type and on occasion as 
evidence of antiquity. 

The notion that the low forehead signifies low intelligence gained 
wide acceptance in the early part of the last century through the 
teachings of phrenology, w^hile the connection of heavy supraorbital 
arches and low front with human antiquity is principally due to the 
fact that these features in ifii exaggerated form characterize the 
crania of Neanderthal and Spy (no. 1), the latter specimen, at least, 
being of undoubted geological antiquity. Subsequent to the discovery 
of these crania it became customar}^, even among men of science, to 
regard massive supraorbital ridges and low foreheads as necessary 
somatological accompaniments of antiquity in the human skull. This 
led to the rather premature acceptance of the view that early men in 
general Avere characterized by these features, that, in other words, 
these anatomical characters represent a developmental stage of man ; 
and from this it was but a step to the acceptance of the notion that 
all occurrences not clearly pathological of similar formation are 
reversions — an impression which is prevalent to this day. 

Following the intense interest produced in scientific circles by the 
discovery of the Neanderthal, Sp}^, Most (Bruex), Podbaba, and other 
skulls referred to the Quaternary period in Europe, there came in the 
course of time a number of reports by Busk, Davis, Blake, Pruner- 
Bey, Turner, Godron, and others, of more or less recent crania with 
'' neanderthaloid " features — that is, heavy brows and low fore- 
head — from different parts of Europe as well as from Asia and Aus- 
tralia. An account of most of these specimens will be found in Qua- 
trefages and Hamy's Crania Ethnica (i livraison, 27 et seq., Paris, 
1876-77), and should be perused in this connection. The anomaly 
was unreservedly ascribed to atavism. 

Nonpathological recent American crania with pronounced supra- 
orbital ridges and low foreheads thus far have not been made the 
subject of a special report, yet such specimens are not very rare in 
our collections. The National Museum alone possesses a consider- 

',' ^ 99 



100 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [btjll. 33 

able number (enumerated on page 96), and the Avriter Avill utilize this 
occasion to giA^e a brief description, with illustrations, of the more 
remarkable of these specimens, without attempting to explain the 
exact nature and cause of their peculiar features. 

The whole subject of exceptionally large supraorbital arches and 
low foreheads deserves exhaustive anatomical study. A low sloping 
forehead does not occur or has not yet been observed in the fetus 
and in infants and is extremely rare in the female sex. The same is 
true also of heavy supraorbital ridges. Hence both of these characters 
must be regarded as primarily adult and sexual. Their relation is not 
constant. Most frequently heavy ridges and low forehead coexist 
and accentuate each other, but Ioay front can be found, as will be 
seen in some of the specimens to be described, associated with onW 
moderate ridges, and prominent brows are occasionally observed in 
skulls Avith good frontal arching. The ridges themseh^es offer sev- 
eral points for study. Ordinarily they form elevations Avhich extend 
over from one-half to two-thirds of the median part of the supra- 
orbital space, but in rare cases they extend along the Avhole supra- 
orbital border, constituting an uninterrupted arch Avhich may haA^e 
a significance different from that possessed b}^ the ridges of the more 
usual character. They are affected in A^olume by the frontal sinuses, 
but large ridges may coexist Avith relatiA^ely small sinuses and A^ce 
A'ersa, showing that some range of A^ariation is inherent in the bony 
elevations themselves. The corrugator supercilii muscle attached 
to the glabella may also haA^e some influence on the dcA^elopment of 
the parts of the ridges nearest to this attachment. A closer compara- 
tive anatomical study is necessary in this connection. IleaA'A^ supra- 
orbital arches and sloping forehead are found in the adult male 
gorilla, but these features are much less apparent in the orang, 
chimpanzee, or gibbon, Avhere Ave usually find a fairly Avell arched 
front, as Avell as in most of the loAver primates. 

The folloAving descriptions and measurements of indiAndual skulls 
show that in American crania low forehead' and prominent supra- 
orbital ridges are generally not associated Avith pathological con- 
ditions of the skull, or Avith premature occlusion of an}^ of the 
sutures; AA^here synostosis was obserA^ed, it Avas plainly senile in 
character. A number of the skulls shoAv small size and according to 
the ordinary classification Avould be ranged as microcephals, but 
Indian skulls of these dimensions are not rare, and it is impos- 
sible to say that the small size of the brain of the individual is 
causally connected Avith the character of the front of any of the 
specimens. In tAvo of the cases it Avill be seen that the cranial 
capacity is A'Cry fair for Indians. It is an interesting fact that, 
AA'ith one not A^ery pronounced exception, all the loAv-front crania 
in the National Museum collection are dolichocephalic or mesocephalic, 



I 



hrduCka]' appendix 101 

although the number of brachycephalic skulls examined was quite 
large. The writer is acquainted with only a single brachycephalic 
skull that shows a low sloping forehead. This is the Indian cranium 
pictured in 23late xiii, &, of the preceding paper. 

The antiquity of the specimens here described in no case is great, 
and several of the skulls are quite modern. 

The cranial capacity was measured by the writer's method, ex- 
plained in Science^ 1903 (page 1011 et seq.). 

The illustrated skulls are placed in the alveolo-condylian plane. 

A. SKULL FROINE ]\rOITND IN NORTH DAKOTA (nO. 228876) 

(Plate XIV) 

A symmetrical and not diseased cranium of a man of abont 55 years of age. 
The sagittal and coronal sutures show advanced, the lambdoid slight, occlusion, 
which appears in no way premature. 

The specimen is rather heavy. Its low forehead is very striking. The supra- 
orbital ridges and glabella are very pronounced. The ridges are restricted to 
the median three-fifths of the supraorbital space ; the remaining portion of the 
border above each orbit projects also forward, but is not massive, and is distinct 
from the ridge proper. 

The slope of the forehead is uniform and the moderate convexity of the frontal 
bone presents no trace of the frontal eminences. From near the glabella to the 
vertex of the skull runs a median elevation, which is especially well marked 
back of the bregma and gives the transverse plane of the skull in this region 
the outline of a pointed arch. The temporal ridges are well marked and reach 
on the right to within 2.2 cm., on the left to within 1.6 cm., of sagittal suture. 

The face shows moderate prognathism, well-marked nasal gutters, and strong 
malars as well as zygomfe. The skull as a whole bears evidence of a strong 
musculature. 

The teeth are of ordinary size and present no abnormality. 

The base shows an anomalous fenestrum, formed by a process of bone passing 
from near the base of the external pterygoid plate to the sphenoid just outside 
of the foramen ovale. 

Cuts in the rear of the foramen magnum and on the face indicate in all proba- 
bility cleaning before a secondary burial. 

Measurements! 

Diameter antero-posterlor maximum centimeters 19. (5 

Diameter antero-posterior from ophryon do 19.0 

Diameter lateral maximum do 13.7 

Cephalic index 69. 9 

Basion-bregma height centimeters 1.3. 3 

Cranial module (mean diameter) 15.53 

Circumference above the ridges centimeters 52.0 

Capacity cubic centimeters.- 1,475 

Thickness of left parietal above the squamous suture millimeters 5-6 

Diameter frontal minimum centimeters 9.1 

Diameter frontal maximum (along coronal) do 11.4 

Basion-nasion length do 10. 6 

Facial height (?) 

Facial breadth (diameter bizygomatic max.) centimeters 13.8 



102 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 33 

B. PIEGAN SKULL FROM 3i6nTANA ( NO. 243673) 

(Plate XV) 

Skull of an aged male, without any sign of disease or deformation. The 
coronal, sagittal, and lambdoid sutures are, with most of the facial articulations, 
almost wholly occluded, but it does not appear that the shape of the skull on 
this account is in any way altered. 

The supraorbital ridges and the glabella are voluminous (particularly the left 
ridge) ; the former are restricted to a little more than the median half of the 
supraorbital space. Above the ridges and along nearly the whole breadth of 
the frontal is a well-marked depression. The forehead is low and sloping, 
nevertheless it shows a distinct bend and small frontal eminences. There is a 
moderate, broad, median elevation of the region in front of the bregma and 
of a narrower ridge along the anterior fourth of the sagittal suture, giving to 
the anterior and posterior planes of the skull a pentagonal appearance. The 
parietal bosses are quite prominent. 

The face is but slightly prognathic. The lower jaw is high ; the chin promi- 
nent. 

There is no indication of an extraordinary musculature. 

The teeth are of average size. The denture shows the following anomalies: 
Congenital lack of all the third molars, and of the left lateral upper incisor ; 
submedian size of the right upper lateral incisor and an anomaly of the median 
tooth ; and a small supernumerary tooth between the right upper canine and the 
first bicuspid. 

Measurements 

Diameter antero-posterior maximum centimeters 19.4 

Diameter antero-posterior from ophryon do 18.9 

Diameter lateral maximum do 14.15 

Cephalic index 72. 9 

Basion-bregma height centimeters 12, 9 

Cranial module 15. 48 

Circumference centimeters 52. 2 

Capacity cubic centimeters 1, 470 

Thickness of the left parietal .millimeters 3-5 

Diameter frontal minimum centimeters 9. H 

Diameter frontal maximum do 11.1 

Basion-nasion length do 10. 6 

Facial height, total (teeth slightly worn) do 13.2 

Facial height, upper do 8.1 

Facial breadth do 14. 3 

C. SKULL FROM 310UND NEAR J3R0WNING, SCHUYLER COUNTY, 

ILLINOIS (no. 136778)" 
(Plate XVI) 

This cranium shows the lowest natural forehead of any American skull with 
which the writer is acquainted. 

It is regrettable that the specimen is very imperfect; the whole face and 
everything below the parietals, with a small portion of the occipital, are lacking. 
Further, this skull is not absolutely normal, for the surface of the upper part 
of the frontal and of the parietals shows several irregular depressions, which 
may be senile, or due to some old weakness or lesions of the bones. These 



HRDLICKA 



APPENDIX 103 



depressions are not extensive; they do not extend to the inner table of the 
bones, and had only local effect on the shape of the skull and none perceptible 
on the lowness of the forehead. The extreme front of the skull is somewhat 
asymmetrical, the right side protruding forward more than the left. This 
asymmetry is also marked ventrally, but does not affect the rest of the skull. 

The glabella is very prominent, and the same statement applies to the median 
extremities of the supraorbital ridges. The latter are limited to the median 
three-fifths of the supraorbital space, but owing to the small forward extension 
of the forehead, the remainder of the border on each side shows also a con- 
spicuous projection. Above the glabella and ridges is a depression, behind 
which rises the very limited arch of the forehead. The sagittal region is 
somewhat elevated. Between the vertex and inion the skull shows slight com- 
pression, due probably to cradle-board pressure. 

The specimen is rather small (the greatest length measures about 18.4 cm.), 
but as the bones are not thick the capacity w^as probably in excess of 1,300 c. c. 

Ventrally the sutures are wholly obliterated, while dorsally most of the 
coronal, a part of the sagittal, and most of what is present of the lambdoid 
appear still open. There is no evidence that the state of the sutures has 
influenced in any way the shape of the skull. 

The temporal ridges are only partially traceable, indicating no strong mus- 
culature. 

The minimum frontal diameter in this skull amounts to only 8.7 cm. ; the 
frontal maximum to 10.7 cm. 

D. SKULT^ FROM MOUND NEAR ALTON, ILLINOIS (nO. 242982) 

(Plate XVI r, a) 

The specimen is not deformed and, except in a part of the alveolar process, 
shows nothing pathological. It is plainly a masculine skull and belonged to 
an aging individual. The sagittal, median one-third of the lambdoid, and the 
coronal suture below the temporal ridges show, with some of the facial articu- 
lations, advanced senile occlusion. 

It presents pronounced supraorbital ridges (restricted to the median three- 
fifths of the supraorbital border), somewhat less voluminous glabella, and very 
low forehead, with but feeble frontal bend and but a trace of the eminences. 
The sagittal region is only slightly elevated. The ridges and other features 
indicate moderately strong musculature. 

The face shows average (Indian) alveolar prognathism. The teeth are of 
ordinary size; third molars have never erupted (the skull is that of an indi- 
vidual at least 50 years of age ; the lower jaw is missing). 

The base shows the same anomaly as no. 228876 (page 101) — a fenestrum 
formed by a narrow bony septum, reaching from the lower part of the external 
pterygoid plate to the sphenoid, externally to the foramen ovale. 

Measurements 

Diameter antero-posterior maximum -centimeters 17.8 

Diameter antero-posterior from ophryon do 17.4 

Diameter lateral maximum do 13.5 

Cephalic index 75.8 

Basion-bregma height centimeters 13. 4 

Cephalic module 14. 90 



104 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 33 

Circumference centimeters 49. 3 

Capacity cubic centimeters 1. 255 

Thicl^ness of tbe left parietal millimeters- _ 4-6 

Diameter frontal minimum centimeters 1). (5 

Diameter frontal maximum do 11.4 

Basiou-uasion length do 10. 4 

Facial height, upper do 7.5 

Facial breadth do 14. 4 

E. PAIUTE SKULL FROM NEVADA (nO. 243817) 

(Plate xviT, 1)) 

An undeformed and in no way diseased skull of an adult male. No trace 
remains of the basilar suture, but the remaining cranial and facial sutures are 
all open. 

The specimen is quite heavy and bears evidence of strong, though not exces- 
sive, musculature. It shows a prominent glabella; moderate masculine supra- 
orbital ridges (limited to the median two-thirds of the supraorbital space) ; 
a gradually sloping, low forehead with only a trace of frontal bend and no 
sign of frontal eminences ; and a median elevation which extends over the upper 
four-fifths of the frontal squama and up to obelion along the sagittal suture, 
giving the top of the skull a scaphoid appearance. 

The face presents a rather marked alveolar prognathism. The lower jaw 
shows no special features. The teeth were of ordinary size (all are now broken 
owing to exposure). The denture in the upper jaw is anomalous, there being 
three supernumerary teeth ; one of these existed between the median incisors, 
and the second between the left lateral incisors and somewhat anterior thereto, 
while there is a socket on the left also for a somewhat diminutive extra tooth in 
the rear of the three molars. Notwithstanding the presence of 19 teeth in the 
upper jaw, the dental arch and palate are quite symmetrical, and there is 
nothing to correspond with the anomalies in the lower maxilla. 

Measurements 

Diameter antero-posterior maximum centimeters 18.3 

Diameter antero-posterior from ophryon _ _- _ do 17.8 

Diameter lateral maximum do 13.4 

Cephalic index ^ 73.2 

Basion-bregma height centimeters 13.0 

Cranial module 14. 90 

Circumference centimeters — 50. 7 

Capacity - cubic centimeters 1,290 

Thickness of the left parietal . . 

Diameter frontal minimum 

Diameter frontal maximum 

Basion-nasion length _ 

Facial height, total (about)-. _ 

Facial height, upper _. . 

Facial breadth 



millimeters 


4-(] 


centimeters 


8.9 


do 


10.9 


-do 


10.2 


do 


12.0 


do 


7. 5 


do 


14.0 



HRDUCKA] APPENDIX 105 

F. SKULL FROM CALAVERAS COUNTY, CALIFORNIA (nO. 2251T3) 

(Plate XVIII, a) 

The specimen, a sknll of an aging male, is not deformed, and with the excep- 
tion of an exostosis betvA-een the right mastoid and vaginal processes shows 
nothing pathological. The various ridges and other features indicate strong 
though not excessive musculature. The sagittal suture is occluded, and the 
coronal, lambdoid, and several of the facial articulations show tidvanced physio- 
logical synostosis. 

The supraorbital ridges are pronounced, without exceeding the normal varia- 
tion in this respect among male Indians ; they extend over the median three- 
fifths of the supraorbital space. The forehead is quite low and gradually slopes, 
presenting subaverage frontal bend and eminences. There is but a slight 
external metopic and sagittal crest, so that the outline of the transverse plane 
of the skull superiorly is but little pointed. 

There is a moderate alveolar prognathism. The base presents several minor 
anomalies, and the exostosis above referred to, which is probably the result of 
a small tumor. The teeth are considerably worn off, but present nothing 
abnormal in size or number. 

Measurements 

Diameter antero-posterior maximum centimeters 17.7 

Diameter antero-posterior from ophryon do 17.5 

Diameter lateral maximum do 14.2 

Cephalic index 80.2 

Basion-bregma height centimeters 12. 3 

Cranial module 14.73 

Circumference centimeters 50. 5 

Capacity cubic centimeters 1,265 

Thickness of the left parietal millimeters 5-7 

Diameter frontal minimum centimeters 9.2 

Diameter frontal maximum , do 11.3 

Basion-nasion length do 10. 

Facial height, total (teeth worn) do 11.8 

Facial height, upper do 7.3 

Facial breadth do 34.2 

G. SKULL FROM SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA (nO. 241912) 

(Plate XVIII, b) 

A small, but plainly masculine, skull, from an aging, not very muscular indi- 
vidual. It is damaged, but in no way deformed or diseased. The sagittal 
suture is wholly occluded, a condition apparently somewhat premature, as the 
rest of the cranial and facial articulations are still patent ; but this condition has 
not affected the shape of the skull. 

The supraorbital ridges are pronounced, though not excessive for a male; 
they are limited to the median two-thirds of the supraorbital space. The fore- 
head is very low and sloping, without distinct frontal bend or eminences. The 
upper part of the frontal squama shows a quite prominent median ridge, which 
broadens out as it proceeds backward and for a short distance is continuous 



106 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 33 

along the sagittal suture. On account of this ridge the arch of the transverse 
plane of the skull is moderately pointed. 

The temporal ridges are fairly well marked, but the muscular impressions and 
ridges on the occiput are weak. 

The face shows a moderate grade of alveolar prognathism. The teeth are not 
large and present no anomaly. 

The base shows on the left side one complete (proximal) and one slightly in- 
complete (distal) pterygo-spinous foramen or fenestrum, both formed on the 
median side of the foramen ovale. 

Measurements 

• 

Diameter antero-posterior maximum centimeters 17.1 

Diameter antero-posterior from ophryon do 16.6 

Diameter lateral maximum. do 13.4 

Cephalic index 78.4 

Basion-bregma height centimeters 12.3 

Cranial module 14.27 

Circumference centimeters 47. 2 

Capacity (?) 

Thickness of the left parietal millimeters 3-4 

Diameter frontal minimum centimeters 8.75 

Diameter frontal maximum do 10.4 

Basion-nasion length do 9.7 

Facial height, total do 11.8 

Facial height, upper do 7.2 

Facial breadth, approximately do 13.3 

H.^ SKULL FROM SANTA CRUZ ISLAND, CALIFORNIA (nO. 241927) 

(Plate XIX ) 

A symmetrical^ nonpathological skull of a male of about 50 years of age. 
There is advanced occlusion in the sagittal, and some synostosis in the lamb- 
doid suture, but all the other articulations are still patent. The condition 
of the teeth, which are somewhat worn, corresponds w^ell to the state of the 
sutures, so that any premature ossification of the latter may be excluded. 

The supraorbital ridges (limited to the median half of the supraorbital 
space) are of average masculine proportions and the same statement applies 
to the glabella, yet the forehead is low and sloping, presenting only a very 
moderate arching and no eminences. The region just anterior to the bregma 
and along the proximal half of the sagittal suture shows a well-marked eleva- 
tion, which gives the skull a scaphoid appearance. 

The face shows a medium grade of prognathism, and somewhat atypical, 
not very large nasal gutters. The zygomse, with other features of the skull, 
indicate strong musculature. The teeth present nothing special. The base is 
free from anomalies of any importance. 

Measurements 

Diameter antero-posterior maximum centimeters 18.2 

Diameter antero-posterior from ophryon do 17.6 

Diameter lateral maximum do 13.8 

Cephalic index 75.8 



hrdlicka] appendix 107 

Basion-bregma height centimeters 13. 5 

Cranial module 15.17 

Circmnference centimeters 50. 3 

Capacity cubic centimeters 1, 365 

Thickness of the left parietal millimeters 5-6 

Diameter frontal minimum centimeters 9.1 

Diameter frontal maximum do 11.4 

Basion-nasion length __ __ __ do 10.1 

Facial height, total do 11.9 

Facial height, upper do 7.6 

Facial breadth do 13. 6 

I. SKULL FROM SANTA CRUZ ISLAND, CALIFORNIA ( NO. 241916) 

(Plate XX, a) 

An undeformed masculine skull. The sutures and teeth indicate a person 
50 or somewhat more than 50 years of age. There is no trace of prematui-o 
synostosis in any of the articulations. 

The supraorbital ridges extend over the median three-fifths of the supra- 
orbital space and, Avhile prominent, are not excessive. The glabella lies in a 
small depression between the ridges. The forehead, low and sloping, presents 
but moderate arching and mere traces of frontal eminences. The sagittal 
region anteriorly is slightly elevated. 

The face shows a marked alveolar prognathism. The teeth are considerabl.v 
worn off and several have been lost through disease, which affected to some 
extent also the left alveolar process, but there was apparently no anomaly of 
number or conformation. 

Meastirementfi 

Diameter antero-posterior maximum centimeters 18.4 

Diameter antero-posterior from ophryon do 18.1 

Diameter lateral maximum , do 13.7 

Cephalic index 74. 5 

Basion-bregma height centimeters 12. 9 

Cranial module 15. 00 

Circumference : centimeters .50. 9 

Capacity cubic centimeters 1, 340 

Thickness of the left parietal millimeters 4r-() 

Diameter frontal minimum centimeters 9.2 

Diameter frontal maximum do 11.2 

Basion-nasion length do 9. 9 

Facial height, upper (lower jaw missing) do 7.5 

Facial breadth do 1.3. 6 

J. SKULL FROM MOUND NEAR BAGLEY, AVISCONSIN (nO. 207874) 

(Plate XX, h) 

The only portions remaining of this specimen are the frontal bone and a small 
piece of each parietal. It was an adult masculine cranium. The sutures 
are patent dorsally but obliterated ventrally, pointing to an individual of more 
than 40 years of age. 



108 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 33 

The supraorbital ridges show good but not extraordinary masculine develop- 
ment ; they extend along the median three-fifths of the supraorbital space. 

The forehead is low and very sloping. Its slight arching is gradual, show- 
ing no distinct frontal bend or eminences. A well-marked elevation is observed 
in the median line from above the ophryon t(f near the bregma. Sagittal eleva- 
tion was not pronounced. 

The skull was apparently of good size. The diameter frontal minimum 
measures 9.3 cm. 

K. SKULL FROM MOUND IN ORANGE COUNTY, INDIANA (nO. 243855) 

(Plate XXI ) 

This specimen is reconstructed on a plaster base from pieces, and while in 
point of repair not perfect the main features of the vault are easily discerni- 
ble. It is a long and narrow but not in any degree scaphocephalic or otherwise 
deformed skull, with a low, sloping, and but moderately arched forehead. 

The supraorbital ridges and glabella are quite pronounced, but their extent and 
volume are not clearly appreciable owing to the defective condition of the 
fragments. These features and the good-sized mastoids indicate a masculine 
cranium. 

The sagittal region is quite elevated, giving the transverse plane above the 
shape of a pointed arch. The temporal ridges and occipital crests suggest 
strong musculature. 

Occlusion is advanced in the sagittal and lambdoid sutures, and extends in 
some measure into the coronal, but there is no sign that the process in any place 
was premature. 

The thickness of the skull is moderate and its capacity must have been good. 



INDEX 



Page 
Abbott, Dr. Charles C, donor of 

Burlington County skull- 36 

Africa^ advent of man in_ 

Agassiz, Professor, on Lake Mon- 
roe bones 19 

Albany mounds, crania from_ 81. 78, 98-95 
American Pleistocene. (See Gla- 
cial period.) 
America, peopled from Old World-- 9 

Anthropoid skulls 81, 100 

Antiquity of man— 

general discussion 9—14 

in Delaware valley 35 

in Florida ^ 19 

in North America 98 

Arikara, arrival o.^ in Gilder 

Mound region 98 

Arkansas mound skull 96 

Asia, advent of man in 9 

Australian ne(}uo cranial type 71 

Raikd, Prof. S. F.. cited on locality 

of Rock Bluff skull 29 

Bankky, Mr., Gilder Mound remains 

discovered by 67,69 

Barbour and Ward, Professors, on 

Nebraska "loess man" 70-71, 

72, 78 
Barbour, Prof. E. H. — 

acknowledgments to 74 

Gilder Mound material fur- 

. nished by 91 

on geological formation of 

Long's hill 75 

on human remains from Gilder 

mound 78, 87, 97 

on Nebraska " loess man " 69-71, 

72, 73-74 
quoted on antiquity of man in 

North America 98 

somatological description of 

finds made by_ 81-82, 83, 85, 86 
Barcena, Mariano, on Man of 

Penon 32,33-34 

Batavian crania 42, 48 

Berthoud, E. L., quoted on Soda 

Creek skeleton 20 

Black MAN, Prof. E. E., cited on 
prehistoric man in Ne- 
braska 7(» 

Blake, cited on recent low-browed 

crania 99 



Page 
Blumenbach — 

cited on European chamae- 
cephals and Zuyder Zee 

Islands skulls 42, 43 

Bog deposits, examination of 11 

Botocudo Indians, cranial type of- 71 

Brejmen cham^cephals 48-46 

Bruex (Most) skull 99 

Bureau of American Ethnology, 
connection with — 

Gilder Mound remains 74 

western Florida fossil man 60 

Burials, intrusive 11-12 

Burlington County skull — 

history 86 

physical characters 87-38,39,41 

racial affinities 41-46 

Busk, cited on recent low-browed 

crania 99 

Butler, Omer, connection of with 
Gilder Mound explora- 
tion 68 

Butts, E., locality of Lansing skele- 
ton visited by. 47 

Calaveras County low-browed 

skull 105 

Calaveras skull — 

comparisons with other crania- 25-28 

history 21-22 

physical characters 22-24, 30 

preserved in Peabody Museum 21 

Calcareous coating of osseous re- 
mains 27-28 

California Indian crania compared 

with Calaveras skull 25 

California low-browed skulls. 105-107 
Calvin, Professor, cited on Lan- 
sing skeleton 47 

Case, Clinton A., connection of 
with Gilder Mound ex- 
ploration 68 

Casey Key burial 66 

Caves, use of by primitive man 11 

Cenozoic era, divisions of 9 

Cham^cephals, as a cranial type 42-46 

Chamberlin and Salisbury, cited 

on Glacial period 10 

Champlain epoch defined 17 

Champlain substage 10 

Charleston bones 20-21 

Chickasaw mounds 98 

109 ^ 



110 



IKDEX 



Clahk, Geokgb C. connection of 
with Gilder Mound explo- 
ration 68 

CoNCANXON, M., owner of site of 

Lansing skeleton 47 

Co.NDKA, Doctor, connection of wit i 

Gilder Mound exploration- 70 

Ckania, comparison of undeveloped 

and developed l.'4 

Dall, 1)k. Wm. II. — 

description of South Osprey re- 
mains received by ."i,") 

Usprey shells determined by Go 

Davis, cited on recent low-browe.l 

crania '.>'.) 

Dklawakks. remains of in Delaware 

valley 85. :U5, 41-42 

Delawaue valley — 

remains found in oo-;iO, 41-42 

settlement 40 

{See also Trenton crania. Trenton 
femur, Trenton gravels.) 
DEL Castillo, Antonio, on Man «of 

Peilon ;i2, '.V.\ 

DicKEsoN, Dk. ]\I. W.. connection of 

with Natchez pelvic bone_ 1«>-10 

Diggeks, crania ok 25 

DoKSEV, Dr. George A. — 

cited by W. H. Holmes on Cal- 
averas skull 22 

quoted on Calaveras skull 25 

DowLER, Dr. D. B.. quoted on antiq- 
uity of man in ]\lissis- 

sippi delta 15 

Drake, Prof. D., (juoted on New 

Orleans skeleton 15 

Early man, definition of term 10 

P^GYPTiAN CRANIA, ancient and 

modern Hi 

Eocene period defined 9 

Eskimo crania 25 ; 

Europe, advent of man in 9 ] 

European ancient crania 1:5,71 

chama?cephals 42-46 

Fire, use of in mortuary mounds 87-80. 

0(1. 01. 07 
Florida — 

antiquity of man in 10 

bones of fossil mastodon in 56, 57 

mound crania 56, 66 

(See filao Hanson Landing re- 
mains. Lake Moni-0(^ 
bones. North Osprey 
l)ones, Osjjrey skull. Sontb 
Gspiey remains. I 
Flom) moinds 02-9."i 

FOSSIMZATION- - 

al)sent from (iilder .Mound 

bones 90 

character 12, 57 

<(mditions 28 

in Florida 19 

FowKH, G., cited on liRnsing skele- 
ton 47 

'•Gasometer" .skcli .36 



Page 
cjeological time, classification of__ 0-10 
CJiLDEMEiSTER, J., clted on Bremen 

chamaecephals 48, 44 

Gilder mound — 

an Indian mortuary structure- _ 08 

condition of bones in 90 

crania from, compared with In- 
dian skulls 07 

description 67-76 

description of remains from 76-82 

• distribution of remains in 87—89 

human remains from vicinity__ 82-86 

low-browed crania from 02-97 

■i.:;irks on bones from 00-92 

type of long bones from 97-98 

(See also Nebraska " loess man.") 
Gilder, K. F. — 

acknowledgment to 74 

cited on Nehrjiska " loess man " 70, 

71-72 
liiuls made liy. near Gilder 

mound 75, 82-83, 84-85, 86 

on use of tire in (iilder mound__ 87 

quoted on exploration of (Jilder 

mound (i7— 60 

results of examination of finds 

made by 76—78, 

81, 82, 84-85, 86 

Glacial <;ravels 10 

Glacial period in North America 0-10 

(Jlidden, quoting T'sher on Lake 

Monroe bones -19 

GoDRON. cited on recent low-browed 

crania 00 

Griffith, Mr.. South Osprey re- 
mains discovered by^__ 55 

Hanson Landincj remains — 

geological report of Doctor 

Vaughan 65-66 

history 55 

physical characters 59 

Ha WORTH, Prof. E., acknowledg- 
ments to 48- 

IlEiLPRiN, Prof. Angelo, on Hanson 

Landing remains 55 

Henky, Dr. E. C, cited on crania 

from Gilder mound (50 

Henry, Prof. Joseph, report on Os- 
prey skull received by 53 

IlEKEUiTY. influence of on skeletal 

parts 12 

His AND IUtimeyer, cited on Euro- 
pean chamaecephals 42 

IIittku,. .T. S.. donations by to Na- 
tional Museum "5-28 

lloKVEN, V. D., cited on European 

chama?cephals 42 

Holmes. Prof. F. S., Charleston 

bones discovered by 20-21 

Holmes. Puof. Wm. II. — 

on (\ilaveras skull 21, 22 

on early man n 

on Lansing skeleton 47. 48 

HiMw KEMAiNs, general discussion 

of 11-15 



INDEX 



111 



Page 
HuxTixGTON, Charles S. — 

excavations near Gilder mound 

by 82 

skulls found in Gilder mound 

by 67, 80 

Ice invasions in North America 10 

Illinois low-browed mound 

SKULLS 102-10+ 

Illinois River vai^ley — 

crania from 31, 32, 03-04 

geology of 28, 20 

Indiana low-browed mound skull_ 108 

Indian crania — 

compared with Burlington 
County and Kiverview. 

Cemetery skulls 41 

from southern Florida IS 

low-browed type — 

general discussion 00-101 

specimens described O.l-OT, 

101-108 

of IMains tribes ')- 

secondary characteristics 13 

thick types of moderate an- 
tiquity 07 

Indian mounds — 

along Illinois river 20, 31 

use of fire in 87-80, 00, 01, 07 

Indians, North American — 

physical characteristics 4(5 

present skeletal structure 40. 50 

Infiltration — 

absent from Gilder Mound bones 00 

as a process in fossilization 12 

conditions of 28 

Intrusive burials 11-12 

Iowa, arrival of in region east of 

Gilder mound 08 

KoLLMAN, .7., cited on — 

Calaveras skull 22 

Rock Bluff cranium 28, 30 

Lake Monroe bones 19 

Lansing skeleton — 

accompanying remains ."io 

compared with Trenton crania 49 

conclusion ■_ 52 

history 47-48 

somatological characters 48-51 

Leidy, Prof. Joseph — 

on Charleston bones 21 

on Hanson Landing remains 56, 59 

on Naichez pelvic hone 18—19 

on Osprey Skull 54, 57, 58 

Lknape, remains of in Delaware val- 
ley 35, 3(5, 41-42 

LoN( . M. C., cited in connection with 

Lansing skeleton 47, 48 

LoNCj's Hill. (See Gilder mound.) 

Lyell, Sir Charles — 

Lake Monroe bones mentioned l)y l!) 

on Natchez pelvic bone 16-18 

Lyon, Dr. M. W., identification of 

gopher's teeth by 91 



, Page 
McCoNNELL, Mr., quoted on Rock 

Bluff skull 29-30 

Mandan, arrival of in Gilder Mound 

region 98 

Man of Penon 32-35 

Man of Spy — 

compared with Nebraska " loess 

man "' 74 

physical characters 30, 99 

Marken island, skull from 43 

Mastodon, bones of 16, 17, 18, 21 

Mattison, Mr., quoted by Whitney 

on Calaveras skull 22 

Megalonyx skeletons associated 

with human bones 16, 17, 18 

Meigs, .1. Aitken, on Rock Bluff 

cranium 28 

Migrations, human 13 

Miocene period defined 9 

Montana low-browed Piegan skull 102 

Montgomery, Professor, cited in 
connection with North 

Dakota mounds 01 

Morris, William, excavations by in 

and near Gilder mound 67, 82 

McuiTcx, work of regarding anti(i- 

uity of man 14 

Most (Bruex) skull 00 

Mound crania — 

ai'tificial mai'kings on 01 

specimens described 101-104 

with low foreheads 02 

^Muscular action, influence of on 

skeletal parts 12 

Myers, Chas. S., cited on ancient 

Egyptians 13 

Natchez pelvic bone 16-19 

Neanderthal skull — 

compared with Bremen chamse- 

cephals 43 

compared with Iowa mound 

cranium 93 

compared with Nebraska " loess 

man " 71, 74, 80 

physical characters 30, 99 

Nebraska " loess :*ian " — 

bibliography 70 

conclusion as to antiquity 98 

history of finds 67-70 

somatological description of re- 
mains — 

from Gilder mound 76-82 

from vicinity of Gilder 

mound 82-86 

views of men of science on 70-74 

(See also Gilder mound.) 

Neolithic man of Europe 71 

Nevada low-browed Paiute skull_ 104 
Newberry, Professor, cited on Man 

of PeJlon 32, 33 

New Orleans skeleton 14, 15 

North Dakota low-browed mound 

skull 101 



112 



INDEX 



Page 
North Osprey bones — 

chemical analysis 56-57 

history 54 

physical characters 58—59 

site of find 61 

NoTT AND Gliddbn, Quoting Usher on 

Lake Monroe bones 19 

OnREcjoN, Col. A., connection of with 

Man of Tenon 88 

Old World, as place of man's origin_ 9 

Omaha, arrival of in Gilder Mound 

region 97-98 

Osborn, Prof. Henry Fairchild — 
cited in connection with Ne- 
braska " loess man "_ 69, 70, 78 
quoted on Nebraska " loess 

man " 71 

Osprey skull — 

chemical analysis 56-57 

geological report of Doctor 

Vaughan 64-65, 66 

history 53-54 

locality of find 60-61, 68, 64, 66 

physical characters 57—58 

Oto, arrival of in region east of 

Gilder mound 98 

I'aiute low-browed skull from 

Nevada 104 

Parker, F. T., excavations by in 

and near Gilder mound _ 67, 82 
Pawnee, arrival of in Gilder Mound 

region 98 

I*ENON, MAN of 82-35 

I'HALEN, W. C, chemical analysis by 
of western Florida fossil 
man 56-57 

Phosphate rocks, description of 66 

PlEGAN low-browed SKULL FROM 

Montana 102 

Pithecanthropus erectus 74 

Plains Indians, physical characters 

of 52, 97-98 

Pleistocene period defined 9 

Pliocene period defined 9 

Podbaba skull 99 

PouiiTALES, Count F. de. Lake Mon- 
roe bones discovered by 19 

Prichard, work of on antiquity of 

man 14 

Primates, descent of man from 9 

Pruner-Bey, cited on recent low- 
browed crania 99 

Putnam, Prof. F. W. — 

acknowledgments to 21 

cited on Trenton femur 46—47 

explorations in Trenton gravels 

by 85 

(See also Volk, E.) 

Quaternary period defined 9 

QUATREFAGES AND HAMY, Cited on 

recent low-browed crania- 99 

Quebec skeleton 16 

Randall-MacIver, cited on ancient 

Egyptians 18 

Recent geological time defined 9 



Page 

RiVERviEW Cemetery skull — 

history 36 

physical characters 38—41 

racial affinities 41-46 

Rock Bluff skull — 

compared with Gilder Mound 

skull no. 6 78 

history . 28-30 

physical characters^ 30-32, 93 

superficial cutting evidenced by_ 91 

Rutimeyer, cited on European 

chamaecephals 42 

Salisbury, Prof. R. D., cited on — 

glacial period 10 

Lansing skeleton 47 

Santa Barbara County low-browed 

SKULL 105-106 

Santa Cruz Island low-browed 

SKULLS 106-107 

Schmidt, Emil — 

on Calaveras skull 22 

on Charleston bones 20, 21 

on Natchez pelvic bone 17-18 

on Rock Blufie cranium_ 28-29, 30, 31, 32 
on variations between ancient 

and modern crania 13 

Schokland island, skulls from 48 

Sharples, Mr., quoted on Calaveras 

skull 22 

Sioux — 

arrival of in Gilder Mound re- 
gion 98 

stature of 97 

Sioux skull, modern 96 

Skull, human, variations in 12-14 

Soda Creek skeleton 20 

South Osprey remains — 

geological report of Dr. Vaughan 65, 66 

history 55-56 

locality of find 61-62, 63, 64, 66 

physical characters 59-60 

Spang, Norman, excavations by in 

Osprey mound 60-61 

Sprengel, J. W., cited on Zuyder 

Zee Islands skulls 43 

Spy, man of. (See Man of Spy.) 
Starr, Prof. Frederick, cited on 

archeology of Iowa 87, 92 

Swedes in Delaware valley 42, 46 

Tertiary period defined 9 

Thomas, Dr. Cyrus, cited on mound 

exploration 87 

Thompson and Randall-MacIver, 
cited on ancient Egyp- 
tians 13 

Trenton crania 35-36, 49 

(See also Burlington County 
skull, Riverview Cemetery 
skull.) 

Trenton femur 46-47 

Trenton gravels 35 

(See also Trenton crania, Tren- 
ton femur.) 
Turner, cited on recent low-browed 

crania 99 



INDEX 



113 



Page 
Upham, Professor, cited on Lansing 

skeleton 47 

T'RK ISLAND, skulls from 43 

Usher, Dr. W.— 

quoted on Quebec skeleton 16 

quoting Agassiz on Lake Mon- 
roe bones 19 

Vaighax. Dr. T. Wayland, connec- 
tion of with western 

Florida fossil man 60,64-66 

ViRCHOW. cited on certain European 

low skulls 42, 44 

VOLK, E. 

exploration of Trenton gravels 

by 35 

Trenton femur discovered by 46 

Ward, Prof. H. B. — 

acknowledgments to 74 

cited in connection with Gilder 

Mound skull no. 6 78, 79 

on Nebraska "loess man"_ 70-71, 72-73 

Webb, J. G. — 

home site described 60-61 

North Osprey bones discovered 

by 54 

on Osprey skull 53-54 

on South Osprey remains 55-56 



Page 

Wf:bh, .T. W.. connection of with 

North Osprey bones 54 

Webster, Clement L., on explora- 
tion of ancient Iowa 
mounds 02-93 

Welcker, H., cited on Zuyder Zee 

Islands skulls 43 

Western Florida fossil man. (See 
Hanson Landing remains. 
North Osprey bones, Os- 
prey skull. South Osprey 
remains.) 

Whitney, J. D., on Calaveras skull- 21, 22 

Wilcox, Joseph — 

connection of with Hanson 

Landing remains 55 

finds made by at South Osprey_ 56 

Williston, Professor, cited on 

Lansing skeleton 47 

Winchell, Professor, cited on Lan- 
sing skeleton 47 

Wisconsin low-browed skull 107-108 

Wyman, Dr. Jeffreys, on Calaveras 
and California Indian 
crania 22, 25 

Zuyder Zee Islands skulls 42-43 



3453— Bull. 33—07- 



O 



